What Dreams May Come.

Warning Yaoi if you don’t like don’t read.

AN: This is AU and deviates from the manga. Naruto brings Sasuke home after Itachi’s death. This is also the revised version.

“…” verbal conversation
‘…’mental conversation/thinking and Kyuubi speaking
italic flashback/dream

What Dreams May Come.

*To sleep, perchance to dream-ay, there's the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come. ~ Shakespeare.*

Chapter One

“Naruto…” coughed Sasuke as blood trickled down his lips. It was crimson bright against his sickly pale skin. Skin that was growing paler by the moment as his life slowly drained from him to spread darkly across the earth of the battlefield. Naruto pressed panicked hands into the largest wound in a futile attempt to prevent more of the life fluid from leaking away.

“Please…Teme…don’t leave me alone.” whimpered Naruto as he pulled his most precious person into his arms. Blood was rapidly pouring from the wounds made in his torso by Kisame’s Samehada. Blood pooled in Sasuke’s lungs, sending him into another fit of coughing and causing Naruto to despairingly bury his face in the cool skin of his lover's neck. This wasn’t happening. How could this be happening to the only person that Naruto could call beloved? Sasuke was his reason for being. He was the very reason he breathed and laughed and lived.

“Dobe…Do you think we will see each other again in another life?” whispered the fading voice. Naruto’s eyes widened as he felt the heart beat in the other’s chest slowing.

“Please Sasuke…Don’t go where I can’t follow. He wont let me follow you. Sakura! Anyone help us!” cried Naruto as he pulled his lover closer. Fingers that dripped with crimson fluid reached up and caressed the tear stained, whiskered cheek.

“Naruto…if you find me again…don’t let me waste so…much…precious…time…ne…xt…time…” Sasuke’s words faded and his hand dropped from where it caressed Naruto's face. Naruto stared into nothing as his world shattered around him. A keening whine turned into a full bodied scream.

“Sasuke!”

Uzumaki Naruto heard the dying scream in his throat as he jack knifed in bed. Sweat was pouring off of his body and tears were streaming down his scarred cheeks in an all too familiar flood. His chest ached just as painfully now as it had then. One would think after a millennia, the aching emptiness would have eased. Naruto knew without a doubt that he would mourn his lover into eternity because it seemed like that was what it was going to be. An eternity without Sasuke had been nothing but a waking dream. Perhaps one day Kyuubi would tire of this life and allow him to take his own. Wishful thinking he supposed but what else had he too look forward too?

Even now, in this very moment, over one thousand years later, Naruto could still smell the musky scent of his teme. Shinobi never used perfumes or noticeable scents as a lot of times the missions called for stealth and it just wouldn’t do to be spotted by your scent. Even without the use of cologne, Sasuke had a natural scent that was ingrained in Naruto‘s very being. It was musky with the slightest hint of sandalwood. Even now, the scent seemed to fill his nose and tease his senses. ‘This must be something similar to the phantom pains of an amputee.’ thought Naruto.

Naruto shook his head to clear the last vestiges of the dream. Grabbing a clean t-shirt from dresser in the corner of the bedroom, Naruto pulled the soft cotton over his muscular frame. His body was hard, lean muscles, honed to perfection over several lifetimes. The shirt was pulled down over a taunt stomach that now bore the permanent spiral tattoo as testament to his original function.

In the beginning, the seal was only revealed with the use of chakra but now after so many years it had solidified itself as a permanent tattoo. It made no difference to Naruto that he was now visibly marked as the vessel of the great nine tailed fox. Anyone who would have known the significance of the mark was long dead and buried. In the end, only he remained to mourn an era long past. That loss was nearly as potent as the loss of his only lover.

Now shinobi were merely the creation of fantasy. The techniques and skills of chakra use were long since forgotten. Naruto was one of the few creatures alive that still had access to the chakra pathways. Occasionally, he would run into a descendant of the Hyuuga clan with the strange opal colored eyes. Such meetings were becoming fewer and fewer. The once great Byakugan now a dormant memory in the cells of the Hyuuga descendants.

Walking into the large kitchen, Naruto filled a kettle with water and placed it on the stovetop to heat. While waiting for the whistle of the kettle, he settled himself in one of the four wooden chairs that surrounded the small kitchen table. His thoughts began to roam once again. It was always the same. The dreams came and his mind became lost once again in the past.

“Naruto…gaki…you have got to snap out of it. He’s gone. You can’t bring him back no matter how many jutsu you learn.” pleaded Tsunade, her eyes showing unshed tears for her ‘little brother’.

“What about that resurrection jutsu that Orochimaru used…” whispered Naruto, his skin having long since lost its healthy tan. Kyuubi could only do so much to keep him alive. His body was beginning to show the effects of days with little to no sleep and even less nutrition. A palm slamming down on the table caused Naruto’s eyes to jump towards the furious ones of his Hokage.

“Don’t you even fucking mention that jutsu. Don’t you get it. It wouldn’t really be wholly him. It would be just a piece of him. Not to mention, you would have to kill someone in order to make it happen. DO YOU WANT TO DO THAT? Would Sasuke want you to do that?” her voice gentled with the last question. They both knew the answer but it didn’t make the pain in less potent for the blonde.

Naruto whimpered. Sasuke would never allow him to even think of harming someone else for such selfish reasons. He may have been a cold bastard but in his soul he was a truly good person. Naruto was one of the few to actually see him as he truly was, not just the last Uchiha.

“Gaki…you need to let go. Never forget the time you spent together, but you need to let him go or he will haunt you for the rest of your life.” she whispered, pulling Naruto in her arms. He buried his face in her large bosom and began to cry. Tears rolled down his face and stained her shirt with his sorrow.

“Does it ever stop hurting?” he whimpered as he raised beautiful blue eyes to gaze up at the woman whom he had grown to love as a surrogate mother. She smiled sadly and thought of her beloved Dan.

“No it doesn’t, but it becomes bearable. There will always be an empty spot in your soul that will never be filled. You just have to learn how to live with the pain. It gets easier with time.” she said as she rubbed his back, her hands glowing with chakra as she worked the warmth back into his body.

Naruto jerked back from his memories as the kettle whistled, signaling that the water was ready. Shaking his head, Naruto dispelled the memory from his thoughts. Grabbing the kettle from the stove, Naruto poured the steaming water into the mug he had set on the counter. Grabbing the tea bag, he dipped it into the mug and sat staring as the water darkened into tea.

Taking a sip, Naruto settled back into his chair and watched the steam rise from the mug. Sasuke had always preferred tea to coffee. Naruto had taken up the habit after his death. He could just imagine what the bastard would say about him drinking tea. It hurt the think of Sasuke and yet, it was the only thing that kept him sane, a double edged sword that cut him to the core.

He and Sasuke were always rivals growing up but it wasn’t until they became lovers that they truly knew each other. The time spent with Sasuke was the happiest he’d ever been. He’d had Sasuke for fifteen wonderful years. After forcing the bastard back to Konoha, Naruto had made it his duty to rehabilitate the boy much to the teme’s annoyance. It wasn’t long before the best friend rivalry had turned into something much deeper.

The years had seemed to pass so swiftly. Many people in the village were upset that Sasuke would choose someone who could never give him children as his life partner. Naruto now had to deal with the issue of being the demon vessel as well as the man that had sealed the fate of the Uchiha clan. The elders had insisted that Sasuke marry a girl from the village and produce heirs to the Sharingan blood legacy. Sasuke had, in no uncertain terms, told the elders of the village where they could shove their order that he reproduce.

Naruto’s thoughts drifted deeper into his memories to the weeks prior to Sasuke’s death. Those weeks were probably the happiest of his life. The council had reluctantly announced Naruto’s candidacy for Hokage when Tsunade had announced her retirement at the end of the year. The Rookie Nine along with Neji, Ten-Ten, and Lee had taken Naruto out in celebration. Sasuke had taken Naruto back to their home that night and fucked him nearly senseless. Their joy would be short lived.

The Akatsuki had attacked in full force a week after the announcement. The entire village had been in an uproar. The fighting had begun just outside of the gates. The battle field had been a blood bath. The screams of the dying still echoed in Naruto’s ears. Konoha had lost Shino, Ino, and Ten-Ten in the first wave, along with many other valiant shinobi. The second wave proved just as brutal and even more deaths on both sides ensued.

In the end, it was Sasuke’s death at the hand of Kisame that had sealed the fate of the Akatsuki. Naruto’s screams had echoed across the battlefield. This scream of pure untainted anguish had stopped every battle. The full rage of the Kyuubi vessel had been released and within half of an hour, not a single Akatsuki member or Akatsuki follower remained alive. When the dust had cleared, Naruto stood alone, covered in the blood of his enemies, his eyes flashing red as the thick demon chakra bled from him in waves of pure agony. It took hours for Tsunade and Jiraiya to talk him down from his bloodlust.

After weeks of being without the love of his life, the pain of living alone in the large Uchiha manor had become too much. Everything reminded him of Sasuke, his scent on their bed sheets, his hairbrush in the bathroom, the kitchen where they would fight over what was for dinner with Naruto always encouraging the consumption of ramen. In the end, he couldn’t not bear it. Naruto attempted suicide but his cuts healed within moments of inflicting them. No matter the attempt or the manner in which he attempted it, Kyuubi always prevented his death.

“Why do you keep me from him?” screamed Naruto in the damp recesses of his mind. The red fox stepped forward until its massive muzzle was flush against the bars that prevented its release from the cage it had been bound to.

‘Its not your time.’ answered the fox. It spoke in such a nonchalant way that he appeared as if he didn’t care one way or the other whether Naruto lived or died.

“God damn you!” screamed Naruto as he slumped in front of the cage. Tears pouring from his eyes only to drip in the water that flooded the room of his mind.

‘You will thank me for this one day.’ said Kyuubi as he settled himself once more in the darker part of his cage.

The sound of his cell phone brought Naruto once again from his thoughts. Glancing at the clock he saw that it was eight a.m. He had been reliving the past for a good three hours. It was becoming harder and harder to keep himself in the present. It was so easy to lose himself in the memories past.

‘Time flies when you are having fun.’ Naruto commented to himself. Glancing at the number he noticed that it was the dean of the university he occasionally taught at.

“Hello.” answered Naruto.

“Uzumaki-sensei?” asked the dean.

“This is he.”

“Did I wake you, Uzumaki-sensei?”

“No, Dean Nemoto. I’m an early riser.” answered Naruto as he cleaned the kitchen. ‘Ha, Sasuke would laugh at that comment. Hard to believe that Uzumaki Naruto could be an early riser when he would have to move heaven and earth to get me out of bed. I wonder what he would say if I had told him it was on purpose just to get a rise out of him.’

“Uzumaki-sensei? Are you there?” asked Dean Nemoto.

“I’m sorry, Dean. I got distracted by something.”

“Quiet alright. Anyway, like I was saying. We would like you to teach a freshmen course this semester. I know your specialty is ancient Fire Country history so when Uki-sensei resigned we thought that you would be perfect to teach the Past to Present course to the freshmen. Please say you will. You are such a favorite with the students. It’s a shame that the history department hasn’t permanently hired you.” said the dean.

Naruto mentally sighed. He really had wanted to go back to the ruins of Konoha for a few weeks. It was still ‘hidden’ in the woods, its location only he knew. It was overgrown to the point of being unnoticed. Naruto knew where it was. He had left Fire country and stayed with in the toad village for about a hundred years before deciding to return home. His shock at finding nothing but a ruin had set off another series of suicide attempts. The fox had remained adamant. Naruto had set about saving what he could from the ruins. Every hundred years or so Naruto would recopy all of the hidden scrolls so not to lose the secrets of the past. He found it ironic that someone trying to die would attempt to save the past.

‘I’m tired of your moping. Teach that class and if by the end of the semester you still want to die, I will happily fade into nothing with you.’ muttered Kyuubi. Naruto gasped. The air seemed to leave his lungs. Just five months and Kyuubi would finally allow him to join Sasuke. Tears began to track down his face once again. Even through his emotions, Naruto got the feeling that Kyuubi was hiding something from him. He was too smug in that comment. However, Naruto didn’t get a chance to question the demon.

“Naruto?”

“Oh sorry, Dean. Yes, I’ll teach the class.”

“Excellent. Classes start in two weeks, I’ll make sure the suggested material is sent to your office along with the schedule. Thank you so much for doing this.”

“No problem, Dean.” murmured Naruto as he hung up the phone.

“Did you mean it?” Naruto stood frozen as he awaited the fox’s reply.

‘Mean what?’ asked the fox evasively.

“That you would let me go at the end of this semester.”

‘I meant it.’

“You are up to something. You know something, don’t you?” questioned Naruto, his bullshit meter going off. The fox just cackled and went silent. Naruto sighed. Well at least he had something to look forward to sadly enough.

“Sad when you look forward to your own death.” he muttered as he walked from the kitchen to the bathroom and gazed into the mirror. He looked the same as he did at twenty-five, wild blonde hair, sapphire blue eyes, and black scars on his cheeks. He hadn’t realized it back then, but Kyuubi had stopped his aging almost completely as soon as he hit twenty-five and that was five years before Sasuke died.

Turning on the shower, Naruto stepped beneath the warm spray. The warm spray beat soothingly against his tired body. Steam rose from the tile to twist through the air around Naruto’s tan frame. His body was exhausted from lack of sleep, his mind, however, was spinning with what Kyuubi had said. To be with Sasuke again. Death was a small price to pay.

Sasuke‘s image flickered before Naruto‘s mind‘s eye, his piercing black eyes, pale cream colored skin, and the way his muscles were pulled taunt over his slender frame. Where Naruto was shorter but more heavily muscled, Sasuke had been tall and slender with an innate grace about him. The thought of Sasuke standing with him in the shower sent a flush of heat all over Naruto’s body.

“Care to join me, teme?” asked Naruto. In his mind, he could see the confident smirk that was Sasuke's trademark.

‘Hn’ Sasuke would smirk. The imaginary Sasuke watched Naruto with those obsidian depths. Sasuke could seduce Naruto with just his eyes. Heat would flair, giving life and passion to the dark depths. That’s all it would take and Naruto would be putty in Sasuke’s hands.

Naruto closed his eyes and leaned against the tile wall. His hand slid over his smooth hairless chest pausing to tweak his nipples causing a gasp to escape his slack mouth. No, it wasn’t his own hands, but Sasuke’s hands. Naruto whimpered at the fantasy. In a thousand years, the vision in his mind of his lover was as fresh as if he had only left his sight moments ago.

Sasuke’s hand moved over his abdomen, tracing each muscle with his long calloused fingers, stopping at Naruto’s tattooed navel before venturing down into the golden hairs that encircled the engorged erection. Pale fingers traced the veins to the tip, the touch meant to make Naruto cry out in need. And cry out he did.

“Please…Sasuke.” cried Naruto. The hand stopped its teasing and grabbed the throbbing cock in a firm grip. Naruto thrust his hips forward in an attempt to encourage the hand to do more than hold him.

‘Do you like that, dobe? Look at you. I have barely touched you and already you are leaking. Do you want me that much?’ said Sasuke.

“Teme…stop teasing.” groaned Naruto. Sasuke leaned close and nibbled on the sensitive neck while his hand began to move, sliding up in down, the motion made smooth by the water that coated Naruto‘s body.. Naruto’s hips followed the movement.

The hand on his cock stroked rapidly from tip to base and back. Stopping once it reached the tip to press a finger into the sensitive cleft that was leaking heavily. Naruto‘s breath caught as he hovered at the precipice. He was so close. So close to the desired end.

‘You are mine, dobe.’ whispered Sasuke, his breath hot against Naruto’s damp skin. The words sent Naruto over the edge. His orgasm rippled through him like wildfire. White semen shot from the tip, splattering on the blue and white tile, before being washed down the drain by the spray of water. Naruto slumped against the wall. His heart pounding from the power of the orgasm.

Then, consciousness returned. His body slid down the tiles as the fantasy faded and he was left alone once again. Naruto whimpered at the emptiness in his heart. Tears filled his eyes as the heartache crept in. Tsunade had been right in that he could exist without Sasuke, but it never got easier as she said it would. There was no Naruto without Sasuke.

“Only yours.” whispered Naruto.

Naruto sat on the floor of the shower until the water began to cool and he began to shiver. Reaching up, he turned off the spray and stood. Wrapping in a large towel, Naruto walked to the bed. Suddenly, he was so very tired. His hands began a series of seals and a popping noise filled the bedroom.

“You know what to do.” said Naruto to the identical clone of himself. The clone lowered his eyes and nodded before performing hand seals. Thick smoke engulfed the clone before dissipating. Standing before Naruto was an identical replica of Sasuke. Naruto laid down on the bed and the clone spooned itself behind him.

‘You know that’s unhealthy. I thought we had broken you of that habit a hundred years ago.’ purred Kyuubi.

“I need it today.” murmured Naruto as he closed his eyes and let the illusion of Sasuke comfort him. The clone’s hand linked with his own and Naruto pulled the joined hands to rest over where his heart thumped against the wall of his chest. Gradually, Naruto began to drift to sleep, comforted by the illusion of Sasuke. Tomorrow he would go and start preparing for what would be the last class he would ever teach, provided Kyuubi kept his word.

To be continued~