#because naruto understood his heart and he understood narutos. understood that naruto would sooner die than let sasuke be alone

[container-of-apple-juice]

Holy shit I'm looking up reviews for chapter 697-698 of Naruto and some of these are destroying me

“Soo gay T_T” too true bestie

“Fanfic vibes” I’m cryin just say gay

REAL

We all know their hands were touching symbolically through their blood, so I guess that cinches it /hj

BROKE-ARM MOUNTAIN

I’m fucking wheezing

[vodkaxtonic]

could you do a one shot with reader and neji please? where the reader is like very bubbly and kind and neji acts like he's kinda annoyed with them but one day the reader gets hurt on a mission and he gets super worried? thank you!!

Hanging by a thread •Neji Hyuga x Reader•

Summary: You're Kiba's twin sister, and for a long time, Neji tries to suppress the growing crush on you. You were an absolute ball of happiness and optimism, and he couldn't help but fall in love with you. But after finding out that you got hurt on a seemingly simple mission, he realizes that no matter how hard he tries, he can't hide his feelings any longer. 

Word count: 2,9K

Warnings: ANGST, fluff, humor and near death

REQUESTS OPEN

"Neji-Chan!" You yelled excitedly, making everyone in the street look at you as you walked up to him, walking beside you, Kiba and Shikamaru. Neji groaned, begging that the way this little nickname you gave him affected him wouldn't be too obvious. "I told you to stop calling me that." He muttered as you embraced him in a tight hug before letting go of him, your hand resting on his shoulder. "You don't like it?" You pouted, looking at him. "No." Yes. "Fine, then I'll find another nickname for you." You shrugged with a smile. "Y/n, we need to go now. Sorry Neji, but Y/n got called in for a mission by Genma-Sensei." Shikamaru explained, and Neji nodded, taking a step back. "What kind of mission?" Neji asked, raising his eyebrows. "It's a fairly easy one, a C-Rank mission. Genma asked for a medic for the mission, just in case, and Y/n is the best one in Konohagakure." Kiba explained, a proud smile covering his face as he looked at you. He knew that you would never realize how proud he was of you for not only being a jonin but also being one of the best and a medic. The medics on missions seemed useless most of the time, but when it came hard on hard, they risked their lives for the people they were saving, sometimes the only ones left on the field. "Wish me luck, honey!" You chirped with a sheepish grin. "That's even worse than Neji-Chan." He groaned, rolling his eyes but fighting every urge to smile. "I'll think of a better one when I get back." Neji didn't say a word, only nodding before he kept walking. Good luck, he thought, but he couldn't help but notice the pit that started to form at the bottom of his stomach. 

Tears started forming in your eyes as you laid low on the soaked forest ground, your breathing heavy as you looked over to your Sensei, Genma. His body pinned against a tree, head hanging low as his body was holed by endless Kunai's. His blood seemed to paint the ground in a dark red, the blood mixing with the dirt and the rain.

This mission wasn't supposed to end like this. You were supposed to bring a man to his village and return, easy peasy. But this, this was far from easy peasy. How could you not realize you got followed by nukenin? You and your Sensei were both jonin. You should've known better, realized sooner, prevented this. But it was too late now. Now Genma was bleeding out in front of you as you felt panic and pure terror crawl through your veins. 

"Genma." You muttered, voice shaky as you crawled over to him, your body covered in mud. His head hung low, his senbon on the ground beside him. "Genma!" You said louder, not caring if the nukenin would hear you, even though you knew they were gone. They just wanted a scroll from him, and of course, this idiot wouldn't go down without a fight. 

Your hands trembled, as you pulled him down, laying him onto the ground. His brown eyes were barely open as he looked at you, your panicked eyes and the tears rolling down your cheeks filled his heart with sadness. "Genma, don't you dare to close your eyes!" You exclaimed loudly, hands shaking as you pulled out the Kunais, making him groan in pain, and the blood started to pour even faster. You placed your shaking hands over his chest, your hands glowing green. As soon as it came, they flickered off. "I can't heal you." You whispered in shock as you tried again and again and again, but it never worked. "It's okay." He choked out, blood covering his face as he talked, but you shook your head frantically. "I won't let you die, Genma. I won't." You cried out as you tried to think of a way to save your Sensei, your friend. 

"Don't." His voice was stern as his eyes filled up with tears. He tried to grab your wrist to stop you from making the worst mistake in your life, but his grip was too weak. "It's the only way I can save you. It's going to be okay, I promise," You smiled weakly, as you looked into his cloudy eyes, tiredness, and acceptance of his fate in them. He shook his head, trying to push you off of him, but due to the blood loss, he couldn't do much. You placed your hands above his chest, despise the choked out pleads of Genma. 

Your hands started glowing black as you watched Genma, who shook his head, begging you to let him go instead of doing this. Within seconds your whole body was in agony, and you cried out at the pain that coursed through your body. Genma's breath slowed as the pain left his body, but his heart still didn't stop aching. "Stop." He begged as he felt his wounds close up, now blood running down your chest and stomach as you ground your teeth in pain. This was way worse than you had ever imagined. A lot more pain than you ever imagined."You're killing yourself!" He cried out, not being able to suppress his emotions as you choked up the blood that filled your lungs. "Please, please stop. I'm begging you, y/n." Genma muttered. "You can't heal yourself, y/n! You're going to die!" He was right. You had the exceptional ability to take someone's wounds and pain upon yourself, and in exchange, you couldn't heal yourself. "I know." You choked out before your hands stopped glowing black, signaling you that he was okay, and you were doomed. 

You fell backward into the grass as a puddle of blood started to form under your body, your eyes staring at the cloudy sky. "Why would you do that?" Genma asked, his eyes teary as he slowly stood up, heaving you up into his arms. "Because I'd rather die than lose anyone close to me." You struggled to get those words out, blood covering your face as Genma started to jump from branch to branch, making his way back to Konohagakure. He wasn't going to lose you, not yet. If you're going to die because he was too dumb to back down from a fight, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

You watched the passing trees, your eyes heavy as your body seemed to go numb. "Hey, hey! Keep your eyes open, Y/n! Konohagakure is not far anymore." He begged as he started to panic. Your eyes were too cloudy, your body too limp in his arms. Your mind too accepting of the fact that you were going to die because of him. Despite his pleads, you closed your eyes.

A tear rolled down your cheek as you saw Kiba, Neji, Shikamaru, and every other of your friends behind your closed lids. It pained you to know that you were never going to see them again. No more teasing Kiba for the fact that you were four minutes older than him, no more helping Naruto with his hopeless crush on Hinata. No more teasing Kakashi for his Itcha-Itcha addiction or going to a BBQ place with Choji. Never watching the clouds with Shikamaru again, no searching for bugs with Shino anymore. No more late-night talks with Sasuke or shopping with Ino and Sakura. No more braiding Neji's hair, letting you handle his delicate hair despite his constant complaining.

Neji. The boy you fell in love with while attending the academy, the boy you watched grow up and change for the better. The boy who never seemed to show you any other emotion than annoyance, but you could see the feelings he was trying so hard to push away. The smiles that tugged at his face when you'd call him by a silly nickname, the way his eyes seemed to light up when he saw you. The way he'd lean his head into your thighs when you sat behind him, braiding his hair. The way he looked at you, with so much warmth and love, despite the way his voice sounded.

Another tear rolled down your face, the sound of the wind fading as you started to lose consciousness, your hand that gripped onto Genma's jacket fading. Genma yelled something, something you couldn't make out as his words seemed to blur together, and before you knew it, an abyss embraced you with cold arms, cradling you like a scared child. 

"WE NEED MEDICS!" Genma yelled as he approached the gates of Konohagakure, a dozen jonin coming to his side. "Y/n." His voice choked up as he saw you in Genma's arms, your body lifeless, your face pale, and blood soaking your clothes. "Y/n!" Neji started yelling, and somewhere in the chaos around him, he could hear Kiba screaming out in agony at the sight of you. "We need to get her to Tsunade now." Kakashi took you from Genma's arms before disappearing towards the hospital. And now, Neji couldn't do anything else than watching Kakashi's silhouette fading behind the trees and houses as his heart shattered into a thousand pieces. The girl he had loved since they were children was on the edge of death, and it felt like a part of him was dying too, slowly eaten up by the pain.

"What the hell happened, Genma?" Kiba's voice pulled him out of his trance. Neji gulped as he saw Kiba, the boy didn't look like himself. He looked feral, absolutely furious, and in an unbelievable amount of pain. Genma started stuttering as shock set in. "Fucking talk to me!" Kiba's fists balled around the collar of his shirt, and only when Kiba saw the endless cuts in his jonin jacket and the blood that covered his shirt he knew. Now everyone else understood too, and Kiba started sobbing as his head lowered. "I told her to stop. I told her not to do it." Genma's voice was just above a whisper as tears started to fill his eyes once again, letting Kiba sob against his chest as he wrapped his arms around the boy, holding him when Kiba's legs gave out. 

______

Hours have passed since you and Genma arrived in Konohagakure, and the whole village seemed to await the result of the emergency surgery. If you would survive. 

Neji sat in the waiting room of the hospital. God, how much he despised them, the smell of disinfectant and death lingering in the air, despite the miserable attempts of making it feel more welcome and safe. All his friends and Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, and Genma sat beside and around him, Kiba's face buried in Neji's tighs as he had fallen asleep earlier. No words passed the thick silence. They couldn't bring themselves to talk they knew no matter what they tried to talk about it would always go back to you, and then it'd be silent again.

Guilt seemed to gnaw its way through Neji's body. He always made it seem like he didn't like you, or was annoyed by you, and if you'd die now, you'd never know. You'd never know how much Neji loved you. He was so fucking stupid, just so fucking stupid. If he treated you like he liked you, that would've been enough. But he was too stubborn, and he always was until it was too late. 

"Neji?" His head turned towards the voice, Gai looking at him with sympathy. Even Gai, the man who always managed to make every situation better somehow, had no words of encouragement to share. "I know Y/n means a lot to you. Just... don't blame yourself for things that could've happened." Even though Gai annoyed Neji most of the time, he was a great Sensei and a good man. Somehow, he was always able to read Neji like an open book. Neji sighed, his eyes dropping to the ground. "What if she doesn't make it?" He asked, not even trying to hide the tears that welled up in his eyes as the others looked at him. "She will make it." Neji flinched as he heard Kiba's raspy voice before the wolf-boy sat up, rubbing his eyes. "She's a fighter. I never should've doubted her because I know she'll make it. Y/n is the strongest and most compassionate person I've ever met, and I'm lucky to call her my sister." He said, his voice determined, fists balled. "She'll pull through. She always does." 

Everyone seemed to jump up at the sound of the door, and a few actual doctors and Tsunade made their way over. They looked exhausted, sweat dripping down their foreheads. "Tsunade?" Genma asked, his voice quivering, and right now, he didn't care if he seemed weak. He needed to know if she survived. "She's stable for now." Suddenly it felt like there was a stone lifted off of everyone's chest, and they could finally breathe again. "She should wake up in around thirty minutes. Y/n might be a bit groggy and confused due to the anesthesia wearing off. But you can see her if you want to, but only one at a time." Before Tsunade could say something else, Kiba embraced her tightly, eyes teary as he took her by surprise. "Thank you. Thank you for saving her."

______

You opened your eyes, and you groaned loudly, your body aching and sore. "Hey there." Your eyes filled up with tears as you heard Kiba's voice to your right. You weren't dead. "I survived." You croaked as tears started running down your face, and you started sobbing, making Kiba tear up. "Don't cry! You're gonna make me cry!" He whined with tears in his eyes as he chuckled before embracing you, making sure not to hurt you further. "I thought I'd lose you." He whispered, his breathing ragged due to the sobs he tried to keep down. "You wouldn't survive a day without me. You'd starve or have to go to training with nothing but shorts on." You both laughed as you wiped your tears. 

"Genma." You smiled warmly as your Sensei entered the room. "What were you thinking?" Genma asked, again tears welling up in his eyes as he walked over, his hand tightly grabbing yours. "That I couldn't let you die." You answered honestly, as you tried to find his eyes. Genma sighed, a small smile on his lips. "You barely made it, Y/n. As much as I want to thank you for saving my life, I also want to smack you so hard." You laughed before grabbing your chest in pain. It still fucking stung. "I'd do it again any day, Genma. Not only for you, but for every other person that is close to my heart, too. I'm not losing anyone if I can prevent it, even if the price is my own life." Genma inhaled deeply, before squeezing your hand a bit harder. "You're too good for this fucked up world, Y/n."

One after another, everyone came to visit you, and as much as you enjoyed their company for a while, you only waited for one person. Neji. However, after Tsunade left you in your room, of course not without giving you a whole lecture but then calling you brave and then giving you another lecture, you started losing hope. Neji wouldn't come you figured as you saw the sun peek outside the window, slowly rising. You sighed deeply. 

"I--I fell asleep!" You flinched as Neji stumbled into your room, stuttering, and you had to grin at the tiredness that filled his face. "No worries, loverboy." You grinned, and for the first time, you saw the smile that used to ghost over his face. "New nickname, buttercup?" Now you were gaping at him. He laughed as he came over, the sweetest smile covering his face as he sat down onto the chair beside the bed, grabbing your hand. You laced your fingers with his ones as you sighed. "But don't ever scare me like that again." His voice was stern, but you raised your eyebrows, a smile on your face. "Did I make the Neji Hyuga feel some kind of emotions besides annoyance?" "You make me feel everything but annoyance." You watched his face, his features softened by the rising sun as he didn't dare to meet your eyes. You let your thumb run over the back of his hand as you took a deep breath, now your eyes gazing towards the rising sun. "That's a poetic way to say that you like me and would like to take me out to dinner someday." His laughter filled the room, his cheeks slightly flushed as he shook his head. "You're seriously something else, Y/n, and I fucking love it."

[kuriquinn]

Penthesilea [19/20]

Cover & Disclaimer:

Chapter Summary: No one will notice if he disappears after all of this is writ into law. He is, after all, notorious, and even his own people likely want to forget that he exists. Naruto aside, there’s no one among the Senju forces left to see him as anything but a monster.

Chapter Beta: None beyond my own two eyes and at the moment. Since I’m finishing the fic this week, I’d say all edits will be forthcoming within the next few weeks as my beta has time to look through everything.

AN: Welp. We’re nearing the end. One more chapter and possibly an epilogue to go.

Sasuke wakes to the smell of antiseptic in the air and the sound of hushed voices. Somewhere to his left, Naruto’s chakra is calm and familiar, yet a sense of surprise and dismay washes over him.

“You idiot,” he rasps. His voice is raw and gravelly, and it hurts to talk. “You were supposed to kill me.”

“Well, I gave it my level best,” the other man says dryly, “but a certain healer we both know had a more convincing argument. I happen to like my head where it is.”

Sasuke opens his eyes—and he can see again and inclines his head to the left. It hurts more than he likes but he fixes the blond man with a glare. Naruto sits beside him, face covered in bandages but smirking at him nonetheless. It irritates him.

“I was meant to die,” Sasuke slowly, as if talking to a particularly stupid child. “If I live, it makes it possible for the war to continue. You’ve allowed sentiment to jeopardise that. I thought you understood.”

“Oh, I understood,” Naruto mutters. “I thought it was stupid, but I understood. Everything with you Uchiha is death and sacrifice and drama…” He waves dismissively. “You got what you wanted—the world saw me kick your ass. And then they saw Sakura show up and save it.”

Sasuke can’t find his voice at this, and can only stare at Naruto in surprise.

“Mm-hmm,” the other man nods. “The people were calling for your death, and she stepped in and said that peace should not be begin with the spilling more blood. That you’ll be tried for your crimes, and an appropriate—and useful—punishment will be found for you.”

Sasuke frowns in thought.

Exile or hard labour, most likely.

He stares up at the ceiling of the large tent overhead; in the distance, he can still hear the sound of rushing water. He thinks they must have set the tent up around him, which means his condition was serious if he couldn’t even be moved. And yet…

It doesn’t escape his notice that a certain individual is conspicuously absent. He wonders if he might have dreamed her presence before he passed out for the last time.

He has to stop himself from asking about her. Instead, he wonders, “Why can I see?”

“While she was healing you, Sakura found out you had the same thing as Itachi,” Naruto tells him. “But she knew what to do this time. And she had Tsunade-baachan and Rin helping. I’m still healing so I wasn’t much help.” He indicates the bandages on his face. “It’s a good thing she did heal you, because she found something in the process. Something about the nerves attached to your Sharingan putting pressure on part of your brain. The part that’s responsible for decision-making and rational thought. So basically, you were batshit crazy, but it wasn’t your fault.” He snorts. “Maybe that’s why you came up with such an extreme plan…oi! Sasuke! Are you listening to me at all?”

“Where is she?” Sasuke returns, finally losing the fight against asking.

Naruto’s open expression turns troubled for an instant, and then he beams. “Well, you can’t really expect her to hang around for something stupid like you, right? I mean, eyes aside, you heal pretty fast. And there’s a lot of legal stuff that needs doing that she’s responsible for now. You know she was made Tsunade-baachan’s heir a few weeks after the conclave disaster.”

“Hn.”

He was aware, but the answer doesn’t satisfy him. There is something false in Naruto’s voice that makes Sasuke’s stomach clench in dismay. He can easily interpret the truth.

Clemency aside, Sakura does not want to be around him more than necessary.

There is movement beyond the tent and then a familiar head pokes in through the flap.

“Well, you two have done it now,” Kakashi says dryly. “You know they’ll be talking about your little spat for generations.” The rest of him enters the tent. “I’m pretty sure they’re writing songs about it as we speak.”

“Hah. Just make sure they mention Sasuke’s bad hair,” Naruto quips.

Sasuke ignores him, gazing upon his former teacher. He isn’t sure how to apologise or bring up what as passed between them, and can only manage a flat, “You’ve survived.”

He doesn’t bother hiding the relief in his tone.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better,” Kakashi responds, surveying him with a critical eye.

Sasuke’s heart clenches again as he recognises the gesture as one Itachi used to perform when he thought he couldn’t see. He has forgotten over the course of the past year just how close Kakashi was to Itachi—and how grateful he once was to have the man as a mentor. He expects to face anger and repudiation for his harsh banishment of the man, but instead Kakashi’s eyes soften a little

“It seems you’re a lot more like your brother than any of us ever imagined,” he tells him quietly. “Just do us a favour and don’t try to pull something like that again?”

“I doubt there will be a need,” Sasuke says, lying back on his pallet.

“Well, about that…There’s some, er, unrest out there,” Kakashi says. “Official peace can’t be declared without the presence of the Senju and the Uchiha leaders. Which would be you, since you didn’t die and, apparently, Obito goes by Nohara now?”

He raises an eyebrow at Sasuke, who manages to remain carefully blank-faced this time. Perhaps taking note of this expression, Naruto tries to draw the older man’s attention. “Who’s officiating?”

“An emissary from the Land of Iron,” Kakashi says, naming a country that has been neutral since the first days of the war generations earlier. “Some samurai named Mifune.”

“Guess that means we have to get pretty-boy here ready,” Naruto snorts.

“He’s not the only one,” Kakashi points out. “The Uzumaki and the Hyūga are expected to be present as well.”

“Aw, shit…”

Naruto’s impending whining is interrupted as the tent flap rustles again, and Sai arrives bearing an armful of robes.

“This was the best we could find you both on short notice,” he says blandly. “Some overbearing Yamanaka woman insisted you not show up covered in each other’s blood.”

He sounds as if he doesn’t know why that would be an issue.

“Sounds like Ino,” Naruto snorts as he reaches for one of Sai’s offerings. “I didn’t know she was back.”

“She and an envoy from the Land of Wind arrived the day before yesterday, as soon as they heard the news,” Sai says. “In fact, many of the people from departed clans and from the surrounding villages have gathered.”

“It’s Sasuke’s fault…he’s been out of it for days. If you’d woken up sooner, we wouldn’t have to make such a big deal of this,” Naruto complains, while Sasuke silently accepts his own bundle of robes. He blinks in surprise when he notices that someone has taken the time to sew the Uchiha kamon onto the back and sleeves of the formalwear.

“Today is an historic event, and everyone wants to see it,” Kakashi points out. “You shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

“Yeah, yeah…though someone’s going to have to help me put this stuff on. The last time I wore montuki I was six…”

Sasuke chooses to struggle into his own, trying to ignore stiff limbs and aching bones. He suspects that he will have to get used to dressing by himself for the rest of his days, and so there is no reason to get used to someone else helping.

Sakura’s lack of presence seems even more pronounced just then, but it’s not as if he can blame her. Their last meeting before his battle with Naruto was poisonous. If she can’t forgive him, what hope does he have of the hundreds – maybe thousands – of people who suffered the ravages of this war because of him and his clan?

For the first time in his life, his feet itch to run fast and far away.

戦国時代

The valley down below the ruined waterfall teems with people. Even standing so far above them all, Sasuke finds himself overwhelmed by emotion. People cheer and cry and hold onto each other – friends and family and former enemies, wearing every colour and crest that he’s seen on the battlefield. He hears celebrations and speeches about dreams for the future and all good things to come.

Another tent has been set up on an outcropping above the valley, at the best vantage point for the people below. It is draped in the colours of the main clans and their vassals, and surrounded by representatives from each. When he and Naruto draw near, the excited murmuring goes quiet. Their eyes fly to the leader of the Uzumaki and there is awe; when their attention falls to Sasuke, it is distrust and wariness. Even the gazes of his own former vassals are cold.

He can’t blame them. If not for his grief-fuelled madness and his relentless pursuit of peace on his own terms, they might have had peace for almost a year. The rest of his clan, with the exception of Obito, might still be alive.

Sasuke clenches his fist, trying to fight down the sudden overwhelming desperation to leave. As he sees it, he has done his duty – he has ceded victory to Naruto and everyone knows it. There will be peace between the remnants of the Uchiha allies and those of the Senju, as well as their vassals. It’s a bright future – the one Itachi wanted – but not one Sasuke intends to be a part of.

No one will notice if he disappears after all of this is writ into law. He is, after all, notorious, and even his own people likely want to forget that he exists. Naruto aside, there’s no one among the Senju forces left to see him as anything but a monster.

Not any more at least.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Naruto says quietly, interrupting his thoughts. “And that’s not part of the agreement. Even if you’ve still got to go on trial, you’re supposed to get a second chance at a future, too.”

“There’s nothing left to build a future with.”

“I bet you’re wrong about that,” Naruto smirks. “And I can prove it.”

Sasuke frowns. “Whatever you think you know is wrong.”

“Oh yeah? So, there’s no one alive who you wouldn’t consider staying for?”

Sakura’s face flashes to the forefront of his mind, first the softly-smiling image he always carries close to his heart, and then the one of utter devastation that haunts his nightmares.

Chains from a failed past, he thinks grimly.

“Listen, just do me a favour,” Naruto continues. “Stick around at bit after all of this. Once we sign the treaty, there’s something you need to see. And if after that still decide it’s not enough to stay here, I’ll let you go without a fight.”

Sasuke narrows his eyes, wary, but he nods incrementally. Naruto lets out a triumphant hah, claps him on the back, and jogs ahead.

“No sense of decorum, that one,” Kakashi says appearing beside Sasuke in his usual unexpected fashion. “But he’s got a point.”

Sasuke side-eyes him, taking note of the way the man’s eyes glint in amusement. Not just at Naruto’s antics, it would seem.

“You know what he wants me to see,” he realises.

“Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“No.”

“You’re maddeningly unhelpful.”

“You deserve to stew for a bit.”

He can’t argue with that.

They cross the rest of the distance to the festive tent, where more and more of the clan representatives gather. Far down below, the crowds of people continue to swell, spreading across the fields of battle that have been littered with the dead and dying since the days of Madara and Hashirama.

“The Valley of the End,” Kakashi reminds him.

“An apt name.”

“It’s like I said. People are already turning you into legends. Are you sure you two didn’t plan this?”

Sasuke sighs and stares up at the sky, counting down the hours until sunset. “This part wasn’t planned.”

The crowd of clan representatives and witnesses part as they come through, and he can see that inside there are several sombre looking individuals. Hyūga Hiashi stands there, with his daughters on either side, and there is a young man – barely old enough to shave – loitering nearby in the colours of the Sarutobi clan. He glares about as if challenging anyone to remark on his presence there. Suigetsu is there as well, dressed in the Hozuki colours, his dead brother’s sword sheathed behind him, while the redheaded Uzumaki woman—Karin, Sasuke supposed—scowls at him across the way.

Sasuke takes up his place beside the Hyūga clan, most of whom glare at him with undisguised dislike, while Naruto stands opposite him. A serious-looking man waves for everyone to quiet down. The vassals and allies of the various clans take their places behind their respective leaders, but Sasuke notices that someone is missing.

“Where is Tsunade?” he asks. The peace cannot happen without agents from both sides.

Naruto looks sheepish. “Yeah, uh…about that…”

And that’s when Sasuke tenses.

He can sense her before she even enters the tent, with that same otherworldly awareness he has always had of her.

“Senju Tsunade has exhausted herself healing this man and is resting,” a familiar, albeit cool, voice says from behind him. “There’s no telling if she will ever wake again. But the fact that her last act was to heal her traditional enemy should tell you where she stands. As it is, before she fell into her sleep, my honourable adopted mother bestowed upon me legal agency. I am to negotiate on her behalf and on behalf of all her vassals.”

Slowly, Sasuke turns to acknowledge the speaker of these words, and when he finally sees her he feels as if he can’t breathe. He has never been one to care overly much about a woman’s looks, even after involving himself with the one facing him. And yet he can’t help be in awe by the sight of her now.

He has never seen Sakura clothed in anything other than her armour or disguised as a common villager. This figure before him is neither the warrior or the healer, but a regal politician. Her pristine white robes bear emblems of the Senju, although the obi she wears has a circle stitched into it – her own clan emblem. Her hair has been pulled back into two twists on the side of her head – not for fashion, he suspects, but to draw attention to the seal on her forehead. Finally, a gold kanzashi sits upon her crown; it’s old, he can tell, and suspects it may have belonged to a distinguished Senju ancestor.

No doubt a reminder to any who might question her status.

“I take it there have been witnesses to this granting of agency?” the samurai from the Land of Iron asks, moustache bristling in annoyance at the change to protocol.

“That’d be me,” Naruto interjects. “And before any old fogies want to bitch about needing Senju blood present for this, Tsunade-baachan and I are cousins, so kinship-wise I’ve got both the Senju and the Uzumaki covered.”

He grins, utterly irreverent and unrepentant in the face of such a serious occasion. Hinata smiles shyly at him, stars in her eyes, but Sakura’s face remains carved of marble as she stares down Mifune.

“I suppose that’s permissible,” he mutters, clearly uncomfortable.

“Then if you’re not opposed, let’s begin,” Sakura says. “The Senju wish is to sue for peace. Are the representatives of the other honoured clans in agreement with this?”

“The Uzumaki stand with the Senju,” Naruto says.

“As do the Hyūga,” Hiashi declares.

Everyone pauses, staring at Sasuke, but he ignores them. He has no intention of speaking until she looks at him, but she barely inclines her head in his direction. Despite her confident bearing and the set of her jaw, he senses apprehension. It’s clear in the way her fists move beneath her voluminous sleeves – as if they are clenching and unclenching.

“Uchiha-sama,” Mifune interrupts, voice tense. “It may simply be formality at this point, but what is the position of the Uchiha clan?”

Sasuke continues to stare at Sakura, silently requiring some sign of her acknowledgement before anything else happens. She must sense this, because slowly her gaze is drawn to his. At first, she focusses her eyes somewhere to the right of his jaw, but gradually, as if drawn by a magnet, they meet his own.

Everything beyond the two of them fades out, and Sasuke’s lungs feel too tight. The bewitching irises that were burned into his soul the first day he met her arrest him, searching him with something that is wary and tentative and hopeful all at the same time.

For a moment, they appear to find what they seek, but in that same instant she looks away, an angry flush of colour in her cheeks.

“Sasuke?” Naruto prompts.

“The Uchiha clan wishes for harmony,” Sasuke says, turning away from Sakura. “It is desired that there be peace in this land, now and into the future.”

It is as if the entire room breathes a collective sigh of relief.

“I will enter into this agreement under the condition of equal respect and trust with the Senju,” he continues. “Much of the onus falls upon those of my blood…and I will accept the consequences of my actions thereof. But the sins of the past cannot be erased either. There must be full penance from both sides before we move forward. To this end, I wish to convey the contrition of myself and my clan concerning the lives lost and pain caused. The slights we have all endured – both real or imagined – have no place in the future.”

Sakura looks back at him now, eyes calculating.

“Before any amends can be made, I would ask the forgiveness of the honourable representative of the Senju,” he concludes, “for any injuries incurred by the actions of my ancestors or myself.”

Naruto’s jaw actually drops, having not expected this. Sasuke is half in agreement, having not intended to say much today. He tries to blame the fact he is still recovering from his injuries, but when Sakura’s eyes suddenly begin to shine with something like hope, he stops trying.

“The Senju accept the apology of the honourable representative of the Uchiha,” she says quietly. “Though no words can expunge the past, we will do all in our power to build the future you speak of – and let old hatreds be buried with our dead.”

They gaze at each other a beat longer, and he feels an element of the same, unnameable force that has connected them all this time.

“Then we will now discuss the terms of this concord into law,” Mifune interrupts with a clearing of his throat. “It is hoped that from this day forward there will no longer be discord between you, but harmony and –”

A high-pitched, screeching wail interrupts Mifune’s words.

Sakura freezes, and her gaze leaves Sasuke’s faster than he can ever remember it doing. As the people gathered search for the noise – a crying child, it appears – and mumble at the inappropriate interruption, Sakura’s face flickers with a desperation he doesn’t understand.

Naruto is also suddenly uneasy.

“Sakura,” he says cautiously, although his eyes flit to Sasuke.

She doesn’t reply, instead bolting from the gathering of peacemakers.

“Senju-sama!” Mifune calls out in protest, but she ignores him, stumbling to the edges of the tent as quickly as her elaborate robes will allow. Sasuke moves to go after her, but Naruto’s hand stops him.

“It’s not what you think,” the blond man says, and is that amusement in his tone?

Sasuke’s head whips back to observe Sakura, who is reaching desperately into the crowd and – apparently – arguing with someone. He has to strain his ears to hear her.

“ – not the time, my lady –”

“ – don’t care if it’s a serious affair,” she snaps, “hand her over, she needs me!”

“ – Sakura-sama, it’s not decorous to –”

“I don’t care about decorum!”

“You can’t just –”

“I’d give her what she wants,” a blond woman standing beside Sai remarks dryly.

“Shizune, if you don’t hand me my daughter in the next thirty seconds, I guarantee you that peace will be the last thing on my mind!” Sakura growls.

Instantly a swaddled, wriggling and crying bundle is laid in her arms, and she holds it tight, making shushing noises and rocking it back and forth. The entire world has fallen away and she appears to be aware of none of it.

Sasuke can relate.

At that exact moment, everything else seems superfluous in the face of the truth he watches unfold before him.

Sakura has a child.

Sasuke’s heart clenches in his chest, and he has trouble breathing, but this time it isn’t due to awe for the woman before him. The last hopes he had of rekindling what they had dies away.

Because it has been a year, and what did he expect? That she would wait for him to come to his senses after he singlehandedly ripped apart every possible path leading to a future they could share with one another? She had people to heal and lead, and at the end of the day, she deserves to be with a man who can make her happy. He has utterly failed in this, and so he can’t even protest the gutting sensation ravaging him now.

She…deserves to be happy, he tells himself.

Long minutes of awkward whispering follow, with Sakura unable to quiet the fussing child. People are exchanging judgemental glances, and Mifune shifts in annoyance. Eventually, Sakura sets her shoulders, and stalks back to re-join the delegation, still cradling the baby. As she ducks into the tent, she bestows an expression of challenge anyone to criticise the sudden addition of crying child to the proceedings.

Sasuke suspects that it is only a general, healthy respect for what her fists can do which keeps anyone from protesting.

When Sakura’s eyes fall on his, something like dismay and apology enters them, confirming his worst fears. Then her demeanour becomes serious again and she strides forward, eyes on him and still bouncing the crying baby.

Her gaze never wavers, and it feels as if she’s using him as an anchor; he wishes she wouldn’t. The closer she gets, the more he must steel himself, refusing to look down at the child. He doesn’t want to acknowledge it or the idea of Sakura’s features blended with some other man. Instead, he does his best to meet her searching gaze without flinching.

Then she smiles a little, bouncing the infant.

“This isn’t exactly the way I imagined today would go,” she admits to him, as if they aren’t standing in the middle of stalled peace talks or being watched by the representatives of clans from both sides. As if these aren’t the first personal words she’s spoken to him in almost a year.

Or that the heart he spent his life pretending didn’t exist isn’t being shaved into a million tiny slivers as the seconds go by.

“The baby is a surprise,” he replies weakly.

She shoots him an urchin’s grin. “I imagine so.”

“Probably not as much a surprise at the other thing,” Naruto pipes up.

Sakura shoots a side glare at him. “Shut up, Naruto, this isn’t the place!”

“Oh, I don’t think there’s much choice of that right now,” he grins down at the baby. “She’s got a flare for the dramatic.”

“I suspect she comes by it honestly,” Kakashi remarks from several paces away. His visible features show no surprise, and Sasuke feels a sudden burning anger rising within.

Kakashi knew.

He and Naruto both knew about this, and they said nothing to him. And they had the gall to think he would be happy about it? And Sakura –

Sasuke knows that he has a long way to go in earning her forgiveness – perhaps he even deserves some pain for what he did to her – but this? He has never believed she would be the type to rub his face in his mistakes or remind him of that which he will never obtain.

One year can certainly change a lot, he thinks darkly.

“I suppose you’re right,” Sakura sighs now, apparently unaware of his inner turmoil. “It’s not like everyone won’t figure it out eventually.” 

“In case none of you are aware, we’re in the middle of something important,” Mifune bites out.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Naruto snorts, while Sakura bites her lip and the baby fusses louder.

“Shh, Sarada…sweetheart, don’t fuss now,” Sakura murmurs softly. “I think it’s making your father nervous.”

Sasuke instinctively looks to Naruto, expecting him speak up or joke or confirm his relationship to the child, but the blond man simply continues to laugh and shake his head as if the whole situation is highly entertaining. There is no other man around them that looks concerned for the child in the way a parent might – curious, perhaps, and possibly irritated judging from the expressions of the older delegates – but the father of Sakura’s child does not appear to be in the vicinity.

It makes sense, and his frustration must show on his face, because Sakura suddenly laughs.

“Is something about this funny?” he asks her.

“Sasuke-kun…” she sighs, shaking her head like he’s missing something. Maybe he is, because the familiar way she says his name takes his breath away. He barely notices her moving closer, putting herself and the infant into his personal space. “Would you like to hold your daughter?”

There’s an instantaneous collective intake of breath all around them, as the implication of Sakura’s words sets in. Then, everyone is talking at once – exclamations of disbelief and demands for clarification and Sasuke doesn’t hear any of it beyond the first explosion of his noise, because his own brain has stalled.

“Sasuke-kun, would you like the hold your daughter.”

Daughter.

His daughter.

“It’s not…it’s not possible…” he murmurs faintly, staring at Sakura in a silent, desperate request for explanation.

Sakura purses her lips and raises an eyebrow at him in challenge. And he knows exactly what she would say if they weren’t in such esteemed company.

Because the reality is, they were never careful. He always assumed that she was taking some form of preventative measures – after all, the battlefield is a dangerous place, especially for women. Unwanted advances are common, whether from the enemy or even amorous comrades. While it’s highly unlikely anyone could ever force themselves upon someone as strong as Sakura, it would be irresponsible of a female medic to compromise her usefulness by falling pregnant.

And yet…

Even if she was, there’s always a small chance…

In the background, Mifune tries to demand order, while the various clans and their vassals dissolve into confusion. The Hyūga seem apoplectic with shock and indignation (not Hinata, however).

“Uchiha Sasuke,” Naruto snorts. “The dumbest genius in the land—ow!”

He ducks an elbow from his redheaded cousin, who also seems unsurprised by the proceedings.  

Sakura lifts the fussing infant closer, and this time, Sasuke can’t stop himself from gazing down on her. The minute his eyes meet the baby’s, any infinitesimal shred of doubt vanishes as if it never was.

Because they are completely black.

It’s a distinctly Uchiha trait, possibly related to their dōjutsu, but Uchiha babies never have light eyes – even at birth. In addition to the inky black hair, Sasuke can already see smaller versions of his own features – nose, chin and cheekbones – and the way her face scrunches in displeasure at being held away from her mother. She appears to notice him looking down at her because she stills, and then he finds himself the subject of a direct, appraising look.

His heart stutters at the sight, because that look has been levelled at him before – first by his father, and then by his brother – only this time it’s with eyes identical to his own.

Sasuke doesn’t notice much more than that, however, because it is at this point that he promptly passes out.

つづく

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クリ

Next Chapter

[jessjesje]

A High School Story #1

This one is about the first guy that understood me. I loved him, looked up to him even years after he disappeared out of my life. He represented what I needed at that time..to be understood in every single way. That can possibly explain why he impacted my dreams, the hidden messages that I questioned every time I woke up from those dreams.

I first saw him in 6th period lunch. I stood up and told my friends (at the time) that I am able to go up to anyone and become friends with them. As soon as I looked his way, we locked eyes and I melted back onto my seat. I felt at that moment that he would be a significant person to me.

Prior to that, I've had my very first boyfriend, at that point I believe it has been 10 months since our relationship has flourished, but I wasn't feeling the same way I as I did in the first month. I asked my partner for a break even though I knew deep down, it was just a call for trouble and eventually a break up. I could've just ended the relationship and frankly I wanted to but held on for him but not entirely.

It seems that this new love of mine can be called "love at first sight" and as lovely as that sounds it doesn't end well between us because the love I had for him didn't mean I was in love with him. I loved him because he understood my pain without me having to talk about it. He just knew. In the sea of boys in high school he was very mature. The fact that he was 3 years older than me doesn't justify his maturity. I believe he had to have grown sooner than others and be compassionate to understand a playing broken record like me.

We started talking because I told my guy friend that sneaked into 6th period lunch that I was interested in the boy with long hair over there. My friend stood up and my heart literally wanted to slide out my tongue. My friend introduced us and that's how it all started.

We spoke as if we hung out before. He quickly told me that he heard rumors about me from a girl that I tried to befriend but i guess she took it the wrong way (but that's another story). She lied about me wanting to fight her, but she wasn't wrong for calling me a bitch. Yet he thought I was very chill and asked for my screen name. Lunch ended do fast that day.

I would cut 7th period just to see him. Outside a block away from the school there were places to sit and I would catch a glimpse of him and die. It was insane that I felt so excited to see him. We spoke outside and later sat outside together, always after 7th period.

My boyfriend found out about my real life day dream and I ended it with him. Truthfully I didn't know what I was holding onto, but j shouldn't have kept him there. But don't worry years after I apologized to him about everything that happened between us. It doesn't justify my actions but I needed to do that.

My 7th period crush became my boyfriend weeks later. I felt so good around him when he was sober. When he smoked I only wondered what was wrong. We would go to a small playground near the school. We sat on this train looking play set that had no slides. He out up his blunt and smoked as if it were necessary. It bothered me even though I would inhale the smoke from his mouth. I never asked him what troubled him and it troubled me in the long run.

I mentioned he had long hair. Well one day I guess he decided to shave it off and I think he was hiding from me that day. After I picked up my phone from the grocery store with my friend, I saw him and he saw me. I saw nothing differently. I went up to him and he looked so nervous. I casually said "oh you cut your hair? It suits you and kissed him on the cheek.

If we didn't leave the school together after 7th period, we would hang out in the staircase by the auditorium. We talked just about anything and laughed so much. He made fun of me because I liked Naruto and he loved watching bleach. Our make out sessions were the funniest because he told me I aroused him and he would stop kissing to think about dead cats (yeah not cool but it worked for him). We got caught once and hung out in the basement staircase by the gym. We just really enjoyed each other's company, it's like we both needed to be present in each other's lives just to forget the pain that drove us mad.

One day we took the train to Brooklyn, with his two other friends. We sat next to each other and I kept looking at his reflection from the other side of the cart. He caught me and would ask what I was looking at. Quite frankly I was just admiring him but instead I just said nothing.

We went to a beautiful park which I don't even know the name of. It had basketball courts and I watched them play. His skin was so pale that by the time the game ended he was sweaty and red. He took me home afterwards and that was that.

I heard people around me tell me that he usually gets it in quickly with girls. That's not what I wanted. I was scared to tell him but somehow we spoke about it and he respected me completely. One time my friends were talking about sex and he took the liberty to say that we won't do anything until we both agreed that we wanted it to happen. As he looked into my eyes I felt reassurance..and you would probably think "why would she fuck this up," I don't even know.

I guess I had commitment issues or maybe there was always another guy in my life that came before him that really had my heart (that's a story about a friendship that should have never been more than just that). But what I didn't do is cheat on him if that what you are wondering.

I mean I shouldn't have been in this place with this other guy to begin with but I was so naive to believe that guys and girls could be friends. This boy was a school year below me. Handsome yes but not for me. We hung out, spoke about random things and then I began to realize that he wanted more than just a hang out, what was expected of him was for me to leave my man for him. I decided to leave and he forcefully kissed me before I went down the subway staircase. He kissed me so hard the back of my head hit the brick wall behind me. I was so frustrated that he ran off immediately. Yet somehow I blamed myself.

I went home that night and messaged the only person that understood me that I have failed him. He said it wasn't my fault but even after we broke up..people said I cheated on him...i shouldn't have been around that person..so I just took the blame.

I'm not sure if he was mad or sad. He always had a serious look so I couldn't tell. One day I spotted him by the school gates. I took the opportunity to go up to him. I climbed on the gate and told him I needed him to be with me. He rejected me, and that was also the last time I would try to get someone back. It was painful. But he was also in pain.

Weeks passed and I heard nothing from him. So I moved on, somehow I became fixated on my best friend again (his story is another one) and I just wanted to be by his side.

As the days passed, I finally got an instant message from the guy that once understood me. He poured his heart out to me and told me he wanted me back when I stood on the gate but his pride told him to say no and stay strong. At that point it was too late..i didn't care anymore because it hurt and I didn't want to feel. This time I said no.

I saw him once on the 7th floor and I said hi to him. After that, I never saw him again. His own friend kept asking me where did he go. I didn't know. But towards the end of senior year, I found out he transferred schools and found a new girl.

That was that.