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Sasuke stared at the yellow tulip on his arm. It had been a seed instead of a flower for as long as he had been able to remember. It had been a seed as he had stood in his parents’ backyard and practiced his fire breathing. It had been a seed as he had begged his brother for training. And it had been a seed when he had gone to the Academy and was still too shy to talk to anyone.
And then his brother had soiled him with the ashes of his family and his skin felt so dirty that he had never been able to find that seed again.
His fingers brushed over the petals. They were the colours of Naruto’s hair. The blond hair of the boy that greeted him every morning as they went through the village doing their chores. The tempest that had come into his life and washed his skin clean enough to see a seed. Clean enough that a flower had sprouted.
He remembered lying against his mother’s body, tracing his fingers over her pink fraxinella petals as she told the story of how she had first met Sasuke’s father. It had been love at first sight. They had snuck away from the party they had been attending into his favourite hiding nook. They had been surrounded with burning candles and it had not been enough to see each other as clearly as they had wanted. They had talked and they had promised themselves to each other. And then they had shown off their arms with their blossoming soul marks and it was done.
They had blossomed their soul marks on the same day that they had met, which was unusual. A seed needed time to grow and it was only once the love blossomed that the soul mark did too. It could be something as big as a first kiss, or something as small as a smile. But the moment that there was a realisation how much love was felt, a flower would forever more mark the occasion.
He had only seen his father’s mark once. He had been sick and Sasuke had brought him soup to his bed. He had been out of his formal clothes and his arm had not been covered, showing the Cretan dittany that he usually kept hidden. Sasuke had asked to touch it and his father had dismissed Sasuke for fear of infecting him. But something on Sasuke’s face must have softened the man. He had let Sasuke crawl onto the bed and for a few minutes Sasuke had been able to feel the skin and the burning love simmering under the mark.
There were so few people with soul marks. In the whole Uchiha clan there had been less than a dozen. Each year at the Star Festival they would be leading the ceremonies. Sasuke’s parents would hold his hand and help him write the wishes of the clan members on pieces of paper. It was important that the people with soulmarks wrote them down, even as they would hang them from the bamboo themselves.
Sasuke would sing the Tanabata song just before midnight and the older Uchiha would work together to light the wishes with their fire breath. Everyone would be staring at the flames while Sasuke would keep staring at the seed on his arm, hoping this year his wish would come true and he would get to meet the person who would make the flower blossom on his skin.
Itachi did not have one and Sasuke always felt a little more special for that fact.
Until Itachi had his revenge.
For years Sasuke had assumed his soul mate had died. That they had been burned along with the other Uchiha in the massacre. That the seed on his arm would never be able to blossom.
And then there was a yellow tulip on his pale skin.
It had been a complete surprise. And it had been an inevitability.
Ever since the massacre, his soul only burned in revenge. Every fire jutsu was fuelled with hatred. Every punch powered by spite. Every word uttered with lungs drowning in the smoke of tragedy.
Team 7 was supposed to be the means to the end. They were supposed to do their best not to stifle his flames until he had burned his brother to ashes. They were supposed to stay out of the way.
Instead he had found the wind that had reignited him.
He had never cared much for Sakura’s affection and she had gotten over him after he had firmly rejected her. Without the crush, she was easier to talk with and smarter than she let on. Sasuke had found that no matter how stuck he was on a problem, Sakura was able to help him through it. Books that Sasuke had trouble getting through because of the complicated language, Sakura devoured for fun. When Sasuke woke up in the mornings and his body refused to move, knowing that he would get to talk to her helped him get up to start the day.
Naruto had been loud and stupid in the Academy and he was not much improved as a genin. He had called himself Sasuke’s rival without any strength to back up the claim. He was all talk. Until he suddenly was not. Like a storm, he was relentless. And merely by declaring himself Sasuke’s rival, the world had seemed to shift around his wishes. He had been growing in strength every day.
Naruto did not like to talk about his childhood, a trait he shared with Sasuke. But sometimes aspects would slip through the cracks. And they would learn that Naruto spent most of his free time training. That if they told him about a weakness, that he would work tirelessly to improve. He just needed to be shown how, something nobody really had done for him.
At least Sasuke had had his family for a while. It hurt that they were gone. But then Sasuke looked at Naruto and he was a fresh breeze. Proof that Sasuke could be happy even if Sasuke was alone. What a fresh breeze going through his life. And the more time they spent together, the more Sasuke felt like he could crack Naruto’s secret.
Naruto never felt like he was alone. He was not the fire that would fail to burn if it was denied care. He was the storm that raged and drew in anyone around him. There could be calms in the storm, but it was inevitable that he would rise again. Naruto’s youth had been a calm which he had endured, but now he was gaining steam and he was not planning on dying down anytime soon.
Naruto was not lonely, because he had found a team and decided they would be his friends.
And the world had seemed to shift to make that true.
It had been that simple for him.
And slowly Sasuke was thinking it could be that simple for him as well.
Sasuke had been getting better day by day. Until a flower that should never have been able to bloom appeared on his arm.
The day started like any other. Naruto and Sakura had been waiting for him at the mission desk and had already been bickering. Sakura had been getting annoyed, but Naruto had not let that curb his enthusiasm. He had said something goofy and Sakura could not help but smile. And that had set Naruto going with his big toothy grin.
Sasuke had been jealous that Sakura could get him grinning like that so much easier than Sasuke could.
They had gone on their missions. Sasuke hated the busy-work, but Naruto found satisfaction in it. Whenever a shadow of doubt started forming, Naruto shined a light on all the good they were doing. He pointed out the civilians that were depending on them and assured Sasuke it was all worth it.
And then they had gone to a training ground to spar.
Naruto had been getting better since the Academy. There had been a time when Sasuke could have beaten Naruto with two arms tied behind his back. That time had long since gone. Sasuke had indulged him over the past months, but slowly he was getting as much out the spars as Naruto was. Naruto was slower and weaker than Sasuke, but he was creative and relentless.
Today Naruto almost hit him. That was not unusual. Naruto had been gradually increasing and he had been a challenging opponent for a while. There was nothing especially important about today. Nothing special about the move Naruto had used to surprise Sasuke, nothing special about the execution. Sasuke had been tired and he had been unable to stop weaknesses from slipping into his form. Naruto had found one and had tried to exploit it. There was nothing special about it.
And yet.
Sasuke had seen the look in Naruto’s eyes. The pride from improving his fighting style. The excitement and the drive that was ready to blow Sasuke away. And when Sasuke countered it was without a thought of Itachi in his mind. Sasuke had lost himself in the fight and his only thoughts were about how close Naruto had gotten. How nice that would have been for the boy.
There was a flame in him that could still care for others. There was something of Sasuke left outside of his dreams of vengeance. He had long since assumed that his fire would die out on his brother’s funeral pyre. How strange to think there would be something else that could ignite him.
Sasuke looked at Naruto lying on the ground. The sunshine that had brightened up his days. And he could only think that he would never be scared of growing cold as long as the sun was near him.
His soul mark blossomed and Sasuke managed to hide it just in time.
Kakashi had called the match and Sasuke was freaking out too much. He had excused himself and retreated to his home. So he could lie in his bed, running his fingers over the petals of a yellow tulip. Wishing Naruto’s fingers were brushing over the mark instead.
It was one thing to realise that he had other things to live for than vengeance, but something else entirely to realise destiny still had hope for him. Itachi had broken him beyond any point of being worthy of a soul mate. Itachi had broken him beyond any hope of ever feeling happiness.
And yet.
There was a yellow tulip on his skin that proved Itachi wrong. For all that Itachi had taken, Sasuke still had a soul mate.
And it was Naruto. The boy that made the world change with his smile. The boy that could uproot Sasuke’s doubts and cleared his lungs from tragedy. Sasuke had never been one for such fancies, but he had always felt his body heating up when he looked at Naruto train. No matter how much he pretended it was envy he felt when he looked at Naruto’s muscles, Sasuke knew the emotion had another name.
Just like he knew it was not normal that he had been dreaming of Naruto coming to his bed and burning Sasuke’s sheets with his passion, no matter how much he had tried to deny the quickening of his heart as he awoke after with underwear in dire need of washing.
His realisation had ignited his soul mark and the yellow tulip had ignited Sasuke in turn.
Because Itachi still needed to die. That was what Sasuke burned for. But there was another flame inside of him now that refused to be let alone. And while Sasuke could do nothing about Itachi for at least a few more years, Naruto was right there in the village. They could make each other happy until Sasuke extinguished Itachi’s life for all that Itachi had done to the Uchiha. And, perhaps, Sasuke would still be burning afterwards for a future beyond his vengeance.
The mark was so warm and it made it so much harder to ignore the coldness of the room. The icy chill of the Uchiha House had never managed to affect him this deeply before.
It felt like he would freeze if he stayed out of Naruto’s arms.
Naruto would have a seed as well and Sasuke should not rush it. All he could do was express his intentions and hope Naruto would one day feel the same way about Sasuke as Sasuke now did for him.
And yet.
He needed to tell Naruto about the mark. These strong feelings could not be denied. Even if it was more likely for Naruto to still have a seed and to want nothing to do with Sasuke. Even if his fantasies could not be reality for some time yet. Even if it was not fair to ask Naruto for a commitment that could end when Itachi decided to finish the job. Nothing about this was right.
He left the house and searched for Naruto’s apartment. He knocked and asked to be let in.
Naruto did not understand what Sasuke was doing there and it made two of them. But when Sasuke asked for tea, Naruto sat them at the kitchen table and played a good host.
Sasuke did not know what to say. But Naruto kept asking questions. Normally that would make Sasuke withdraw more, but for some reason it breathed courage in him.
Sasuke rolled up his sleeve and showed the mark.
And Naruto laughed. “So you finally got yours, huh?”
Sasuke gaped as Naruto took off his jacket and showed an arm with a Red Camellia on it.
“It came a few weeks after you had lost your parents. You kept busting my ass in spars and I realised there was nobody I wanted to get stronger for more than you. But you wouldn’t let anyone get close to you. So I knew I had to wait.”
Sasuke was speechless. He gently brought his fingers to Naruto’s mark, like he was afraid he would get burned if he went carelessly. The red petals hummed with heat.
Naruto smiled as he let his own fingers brush over Sasuke’s mark. Like a circuit being completed, their bodies linked. Sasuke could feel the lightness of Naruto’s chakra. It was making him dizzy. But he refused to let go. It was feeding a hunger inside of him that he had not known existed.
What a fool he had been, thinking that his feelings for Naruto were remnants that might survive the extinguishing of his vengeance.
Their love was an inferno.
And he would never let it stop burning.