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Jealousy At Its Finest
Naruto licked his lips nervously, his heart pounding so loudly he was sure all of Konoha could hear it. He had briefly thought about what might happen after blurting out his feelings for his best friend—refusal, disgust, maybe a left hook—but reciprocation of them certainly hadn’t been one of them.
Neither had the subsequent date Sasuke had asked him on nor how most dates ended.
Yet there they were, standing in front of Naruto’s door with him fiddling with the edge of his shirt while Sasuke scuffed his sandal against the metal, both nervous and uncertain of how to part ways. He hadn’t thought Sasuke would want to walk him home, such a gentlemanly thing to do that he thought neither one of them possessed. Plus, he wasn’t some girl who needed to be escorted home, though he had to admit, it was nice. No one had ever done something like that.
He knew from mangas and movies that usually people kissed at the end of a date, but while they called it a date, it felt almost like they were just hanging out as friends like usual. They had walked around the market, got ramen for dinner, and bickered like usual before Sasuke escorted him home—the only unusual thing about their whole evening. He wasn’t even sure if they were dating. He cleared his throat, giving Sasuke a crooked smile as he tittered with embarrassment, “Well…this is my apartment, so…I guess this is goodnight.”
“Hn,” Sasuke nodded.
“Yeah, okay,” he unlocked his door, “night then.”
“Would you like to go on another date?”
He turned around, staring incredulously at Sasuke as he asked, “Huh?”
“I,” Sasuke cleared his throat, his blush evident even at night, “I had fun, I want to do this again.”
“Y-yeah, me too! It was fun!” he smiled brightly and boldly took a step toward Sasuke, “Does this mean we’re officially dating? That I can call you my boyfriend?”
The blush deepened, but Sasuke nodded.
“Then, if we’re boyfriends, can we kiss?”
Sasuke’s eyes widened as their gazes locked, panic and desire warring as he absently licked his lips, but he didn’t back down as Naruto came closer. “We can,” he replied before canting his head and kissing him. Soft and gentle, their lips moved against each other as Naruto slowly wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s neck and pulled him in even closer. Slowly, the kiss deepened, tongues hesitantly exploring before twining together as they moved in tandem.
By the time they separated, they were both breathing heavily, cheeks flushed and lips glossy with saliva, and pants a little tighter than before. Naruto wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb before scratching at his cheek, unsure of how to handle the flip-flopping of his heart or the coiling pleasure in his stomach. “That…that was definitely better than the first kiss I remember.”
“That wasn’t your first kiss?” Sasuke asked, tone sharp.
“Of course it wasn’t—”
He raked back his hair and huffed angrily, “I’m glad it was better than your first, but it’s rather distasteful to bring that up right now.”
“Why?”
“Because the last thing I want to hear about after I kiss you for the first time is who you kissed first!”
Naruto’s building anger disappeared in an instant, replaced by bubbling laughter as a grin slowly split his face, “Wait a minute, are you jealous?”
“Is that a problem, dobe?” he answered scathingly, his mood darkening at Naruto’s apparent joviality. “We just started dating, you’re officially my boyfriend, and you want to discuss how our first kiss compares to your first kiss. It’s demeaning, and of course, I’m going to be jealous of who had your first kiss, wouldn’t you be if someone else was mine?”
“And you call me an idiot,” he laughed again, blue eyes dancing with mirth. “Sasuke, you were my first kiss. Don’t tell me you forgot how we kissed at the Academy. You’re being jealous of yourself, bastard.”
Sasuke’s mouth fell open before embarrassment consumed him, “Let’s just forget this, then.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon,” Naruto grinned, “but let's take this inside, I want to see just how far that blush of yours goes.”
Hokage training was difficult, more difficult than Naruto ever thought it would be. Kakashi had made it look so easy, though maybe that’s because the lazy jonin just never did anything, but Naruto was quickly learning that there was so much he didn’t know about running a country. Of course, he expected that, but when he was a kid, being Hokage just looked like you got to order everyone around and make all the rules.
When he was eight, he had promised to make ramen the official food of Konoha, and even though he still wanted to follow through with that promise, twenty-year-old him knew he now had to have the approval of the council to do anything that wasn’t an emergency. And the council wasn’t going to agree to his childish desire.
What he wouldn’t give for some ramen right now, but Shikamaru had been placed as his taskmaster, and considering how laid back he had seemed in the academy, he was anything but now. He had already been found goofing off instead of studying twice and Shikamaru had vowed to keep him studying all night if necessary, but he wasn’t leaving until he finished the stack of books to his left. There were only two left—small ones at that—but his stomach kept rumbling so loudly he couldn’t concentrate.
He wanted his precious ramen, just one bowl would be enough to get him through these last two books—okay, four bowls would be enough to get him through—no, five, definitely five. Naruto groaned, “Who am I kidding? I need at least ten just to feel slightly satisfied.” He was so hungry he could picture it, just how those delicious ramen noodles would look in Teuchi’s signature broth and with extra tonkatsu on the side. His stomach growled again, he swore he could smell it too.
“Hungry?”
Naruto looked over toward the door where Shikamaru stood, holding a large bowl of ramen in each hand, and he jumped up, “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Please don’t tell me that,” Shikamaru said drolly, “do you want to bring Sasuke’s wrath down upon my head?”
“Trust me, the love will be gone once you tell me to get back to work.” He grabbed at the ramen, salivating already, “Come on, give me the ramen now, I’m gonna die any minute from starvation.”
Shikamaru rolled his eyes with a sigh but set the ramen down on the table anyway. There was no way he’d be able to get Naruto back on track anyway, not with his stomach rumbling loud enough to be heard outside of the tower.
“You’re the best, Shikamaru,” Naruto licked his lips, already opening the first container and taking a deep breath through his nose, “you’re a godsend for sure.”
The temperature of the room dropped suddenly, and Naruto shivered as he looked up to see if a window was open, but there was no draft. Shikamaru cursed under his breath and Naruto glanced at him before looking over his shoulder to where Sasuke stood in the doorway. The evident scowl told him all he needed to know, Sasuke had overheard their conversation and wasn’t happy about it. They had recently become a couple after many misunderstandings, but things had been going smoothly for them since admitting their feelings to each other.
“Sasuke!” he called jovially, happy to see his boyfriend but Sasuke didn’t even crack a smile.
Instead, he came into the room and dropped a bag on the table, “I thought you might be hungry,” he said flatly, “but I see Nara already considered that as well, and brought you something better.”
Before Naruto could protest, Sasuke held two fingers up and disappeared in a whirl of leaves. He looked inside the bag at the steamed rice, chicken, and vegetables that were all obviously homecooked. “He cooked for me,” he whispered, touched at Sasuke’s thoughtfulness, “he’s never done that before.”
“Never?” Naruto shook his head, reverently taking the food out of its bag. Two bowls of ramen certainly wasn’t going to be enough, even if it was a better choice of food. “I’m going to have to sleep with one eye open from now on.” Shikamaru rubbed the bridge of his nose, he was beginning to realize that Sasuke had a jealous streak in him. “What a drag…”
“So, I was thinking it might be better to—” Naruto stopped short, the wind knocked out of him from two strong arms wrapping around his torso and yanking him away from the table he had been leaning over. He didn’t even need to look behind him to know whose arms they were, he was well aware of how jealous Sasuke could be, but even this was crossing the line. An official meeting between the Hokage and the Kazekage to discuss border patrol skirmishes wasn’t the time to stake his claim on Naruto, especially when all he was doing was leaning over the map with Gaara mirroring him from the other side of the table.
Sometimes he wondered if making Sasuke part of his regular bodyguard duty was a good idea, it had seemed like a sound plan at the time and one that made everyone happy—because Sasuke got to remain close to him and those who didn’t trust his lover due to his past saw it as keeping Sasuke on a short leash. But he had recognized the lingering jealousy in Sasuke’s glowers whenever he got too close or too friendly with other people. As Hokage, he needed to be diplomatic and ambivalent, but it made Sasuke restless, and that made him more likely to stake his claim.
“Hawk,” Naruto ground out with little patience, just barely remembering not to call Sasuke by his name and expose his identity, “is there a reason you’re keeping us here longer than necessary?” Sasuke didn’t speak, but released him after a few more seconds reluctantly and curtly shook his head. “Then let us finish this meeting so we can return to Konoha.”
Gaara chuckled softly, green eyes mirthful as Sasuke shot him a scathing glare. Rarely was the identity of an Anbu known, and certainly not by another country, but Naruto had told him about his and Sasuke’s relationship and there was no doubt in his mind who Hawk was. To those who didn’t know Sasuke, it wouldn’t be obvious that Sasuke and Hawk were one in the same, but one would have to be blind to miss that the Anbu and Naruto shared a relationship beyond duty.
And though he felt nothing more than friendship toward Naruto, it was fun to rile Sasuke up. He had discovered early on it didn’t take much, a simple pat on the shoulder or leaning in to whisper something to Naruto left burning holes in his back, and there was the one time he wiped something off Naruto’s cheek, Sasuke almost snapped his wrist. Thankfully, his sand shield protected him, and he knew he was playing with fire, it was just too amusing to not taunt him. Though he heeded his older sister’s warning, one day he was going to push Sasuke too far, but that day wasn’t going to be today.
Gaara returned his attention to the map, but made sure to lean a little closer to Naruto than necessary—just to piss the Uchiha off.
Naruto guffawed loudly, slapping Kiba on the back as they and their other friends sat around a table trading stories. The spread of food was being passed around along with bottles of saké and they were all having a great time—well, all but one. Sasuke sat next to him, refusing to drink and instead nursing the same cup of saké that had been poured from him two hours ago. He could feel Sasuke’s jealousy at how close he was being with Kiba, but ignored it. He knew before they even started dating how covetous Sasuke could be, but he thought it would get better once they made their relationship official.
They didn’t hide it, everyone was well aware that their Hokage was gay and head over heels in love with the traitor-turned-hero, Sasuke. There was a little push back from the Council as they were losing two great bloodlines, but no one was stupid enough to truly balk at the two strongest ninjas in Konoha—and possibly in the ninja world—being in a romantic relationship. Neither one of them would stand for their lover being slandered and the only person who did, mysteriously disappeared. Whether he was dead or sent on a lifelong mission outside of Konoha depended on who got to him first, and no one was willing to ask.
He looked over his shoulder and winked at his surly lover, “Come on Sasuke, you gotta admit that was funny.”
Sasuke rolled his eyes, “How is Akamaru confusing him with a female dog and trying to mount him funny?”
“Why did I open my mouth?” Kiba groaned and dropped his head to the table as their friends all laughed at him.
Naruto laughed and slapped Kiba roughly on the back again, “Because that’s how the game works!”
Sakura decided to take pity on Kiba and clapped her hands, “I think we’ve embarrassed Kiba enough tonight. Let’s move on then, who’s the King now?”
“I am!” Ino held up the long, thin stick as if it were a royal scepter. “Let’s see….” she tapped it against her polished lips, grinning as he eyes fell on Hinata and she pointed the stick at the shy woman, “You have to kiss your crush, and if you don’t, you have to drink the next round of saké by yourself.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Naruto protested, “Hinata’s never had a crush, so she has no choice but to drink!”
Sasuke smacked him on the back of his head as Hinata turned red and tried to shrink down in her seat, “Dobe.”
“What did’ya smack me for, bastard?” he whined, rubbing his scalp.
“Because you’re an idiot.”
“Come on, Hinata,” Ino said, pulling Hinata from her seat, “I know at least one person who you had a crush on is here, so go kiss ‘em.”
Naruto began to protest again as Hinata tiptoed her way around the table, her face turning redder by the second, but a guttural growl from Sasuke stopped him. He looked at his lover, perplexed as to why Sasuke was growling at him, only to become more confused by the sheer vitriol in Sasuke’s gaze. At first, he thought Sasuke was angry with him, but he realized that those tenebrous eyes were tracking Hinata instead of him, his eyes narrowing the closer Hinata got.
Sasuke wrapped his arm around Naruto’s waist—his preferred way to hold the blonde—and pressed his chest to his lover’s back before setting his chin on Naruto’s shoulder. There was no doubting just who Naruto belonged to, the jealousy radiating from him practically visible to the naked eye and most certainly obvious to a Byakugan user. Hinata flinched, not even able to meet Sasuke’s eyes, and stopped short of Naruto as she tremulously glanced at the blonde. It wasn’t possible to see Naruto without seeing Sasuke and Hinata let out a quiet squeak before she tapped on Kiba’s shoulder with a shaking hand.
“Sasuke,” Naruto whispered as Hinata gave Kiba a quick peck on the cheek before scurrying back to her seat, “why are you acting so jealous? Did you have a crush on Kiba too? Or is it Hinata?”
“You really are an idiot, Naruto,” Sakura said with a snort, quickly gathering the sticks to pick a new King before Naruto could ask another stupid question.
“I can’t believe you’re jealous!” Naruto said, laughing so hard he almost fell off the stool.
Sasuke harrumphed and scowled at his lover, “You’re moaning more eating that bowl of ramen than you do with me.”
“Well, yeah, it’s ramen,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “No matter how much I love you, you don’t taste like the mix of delectable flavors that’s all in one bowl.”
He glowered at the steaming bowl of noodle soup, doubly annoyed at himself for just how envious he was, “If you could only save one of us, would you choose me or that bowl of ramen?”
“Of course, I’d save you, even if you are a bastard,” Naruto teased, leaning over to kiss Sasuke on the cheek. “As painful as it would be to waste ramen, I can always get another.”
He narrowed his eyes, “It’s the best ramen in the world, you’ll never taste anything like it again, and it cannot be recreated—”
“Why not?”
“Because…the itamae died,” Sasuke said with exasperation, he couldn’t believe he was even arguing about this, “so this is the only bowl you’ll ever get. Do you choose the ramen or me?”
Naruto crossed his arms and hummed, weighing the pros and cons, “How long have we been together at this point?”
“Why does that even matter?”
“Well, if we’re on our deathbeds and I’m about to lose you anyway, I might as well try that ramen, right?”
“Tch,” Sasuke stood up angrily, “I can’t believe you’re even contemplating this. It was a hypothetical, dobe! You were supposed to choose me no matter what.”
“Oh come on, Sasuke,” he called as Sasuke stormed away, getting up to follow him, “you know I was just joking! Of course, I’d choose you—oh shit, wait a minute,” Naruto turned back around to return to the counter, “I didn’t finish my ramen!”
Naruto let out a breath as he fastened the button around his collar, holding his cape in place that announced he was the Seventh Hokage of Konohagakure, and checked his appearance in the mirror once more. He had officially been the Nanadaime for a little over a year, but this was his first time attending an official summit between all the Kages. The last one Kakashi handled even though he was technically retired, but this year he was on his own. And not only that, but he was the youngest and most inexperienced Kage in attendance.
At least he wasn’t there alone. Shikamaru had come in his official role as the Hokage’s advisor and Sasuke had come as his date and bodyguard. Knowing that Sasuke would be there with him set his mind at ease, even though he knew Sasuke was concerned his presence would cause more harm than good. Ninjas had long memories—something he knew better than most—and held grudges like no other, but he had worked tirelessly to have Sasuke pardoned, and not just in Konoha, but in every country they were friendly with. He had been successful in doing so with every country except Kumogakure, the Raikage refused to forgive Sasuke’s assassination attempt against him.
But he had at least agreed to look the other way at Sasuke’s crimes during the Summit.
He took one last look at himself in the full-length mirror, pulling his collar up a little higher to make sure it covered up the bite mark Sasuke had left on his neck that morning, and then grinned and gave himself a thumbs up. “Looking good, Hokage-sama.”
Now, if he could just feel as confident as he sounded.
He smoothed his jacket down, fingers ghosting the zipper and remembering the way Sasuke had erotically pulled it up, lips almost touching and that cocky smirk that drove him crazy. It stirred up sordid memories best left for the middle of the night and he glanced at the mirror as his cheeks heated up, the blush obvious and darkening. He took a deep, calming breath and rolled his shoulders, “What the hell are you thinking about right now, you idiot?”
“Hokage-sama?” someone called while rapping gently on the door, “Everyone else has already arrived and waiting for you.”
“I-I’m coming!” Naruto stammered, groaning as he felt his face heating even more, he just had to use that phrase now. He didn’t think he’d be the last kage to arrive, but he had spent way too much time trying to make sure he was presentable that now he was late. He didn’t want to give anyone a reason to look down on him, or Sasuke, and yet he was already making them look bad.
He strode out of the room with his head held high, hoping the cool night air might rid him of his blush before he reached the banquet hall. Tonight was just the informal meeting with food and drink so they could mingle and (re)kindle friendships before the actual Summit the day following. The Earth ninja that had been waiting for him at his door quietly walked in front of him, escorting him even though he didn’t need it. His own Anbu were somewhere in the shadows and Sasuke was already at the banquet—insisting on going first to scope the place out before he arrived.
It didn’t matter that Sasuke had more enemies than he did, Sasuke wouldn’t allow him to enter before he had a chance to gauge his safety. He did like that protective side of his lover though, he was the strongest ninja in existence and had Kurama to bolster his chakra and healing capabilities, and yet Sasuke still treasured him so and pampered him. It might not be needed, but Naruto wasn’t going to turn him away either.
The ninja opened a door, holding it open and gesturing Naruto inside, “Please enjoy yourself, Hokage-sama.”
Naruto straightened his shoulders and walked inside, an affable smile on his face as he nodded in greeting to a few people he recognized. There weren’t too many people present, but still nearly fifty with the Kages and their families present along with their advisors and a few dignitaries from the surrounding countries. He scanned the room in search of his lover, and his eyes lit up as they spotted a familiar hairstyle. Sasuke had his back turned to him, but the image he cut was still as handsome from the back as it was from the front.
Without his cape that made him look formless, Sasuke garnered much more attention than usual. He had always been stunning, but he looked less like a vagrant and more like an honorable member of society in the formfitting black pants and deep blue vest that went over his long black shirt. It wasn’t as eye-catching as some of the outfits, but it gave Sasuke a svelte look, and with his flawless skin and fathomless black eyes, he was attention-grabbing. Even more so, he was being charming because he was there as the Hokage’s lover and not as Uchiha Sasuke.
He could see the side of Sasuke’s face and he was smiling, albeit a sliver of one, while talking to one of the dignitaries—a rather beautiful woman who seemed a little too smitten with his lover. The Mizukage stood to his left and Shikamaru was on his right along with a few other people Naruto didn’t recognize, and he didn’t like it. All the attention seemed to be on Sasuke, and it wasn’t wary or aggressive attention, but admirable attention that made Naruto’s hackles rise.
Naruto considered himself rather level-headed from how he used to be, he had learned to hone his emotions and use them to his advantage, and to think things through, but seeing the way people were gathering around his lover made him feel an emotion he hadn’t felt in years. Of course, he wanted Sasuke to have friends and be accepted by the people around him, but that didn’t mean people needed to touch him or lean in so close to talk to him. It certainly didn’t mean the dignitary needed to lean in and whisper something into his ear either!
His body was moving before he even realized it, flickering from the entrance to right next to his lover in less than half a second. Wrapping an arm around Sasuke’s trim waist, he pulled him close and flashed a sharp smile full of teeth at the dignitary, “I see you’ve had the pleasure of meeting my lover, but I don’t even know your name.”
“Oh,” the woman said after a brief pause as she stepped away, “I…I thought Uchiha-san was merely an advisor, Hokage-sama.”
He nuzzled the side of Sasuke’s face gently, not even needing to see the eye roll from the way Sasuke huffed softly, “He’s much more than a mere advisor, madam, you’d do well to remember that. He’s mine.”
She paled. Naruto might be smiling, but his eyes were watching her like she was a threat he was more than capable of, and willing to, exterminate. “My apologies,” she whispered, giving a slight bow before looking for any excuse to leave, “S-someone's calling me, so I must be going now.”
Shikamaru watched the woman scurry away, a rippling effect going through the room after Naruto put a very clear claim on Sasuke, and sighed, “I thought Sasuke’s jealousy was bad, I didn’t realize you were actually worse.”
“I need to put a ring here,” Naruto growled to Sasuke, ignoring Shikamaru completely as he held up his lover’s hand and fondly traced an invisible line around Sasuke’s ring finger. “Then people will know you’re already taken.”
Sasuke interlaced their fingers and dropped them between their bodies. He wasn’t one for public displays of affection, but he wasn’t against possessive displays of affection. “Only if you wear one too.”
“Deal!”