The Blessed Realm

Chapter One Hundred Fourteen: Not a Frog

Sasuke had noticed that Naruto had said “I,” not “we,” but he got up all the same and went home with Naruto. He was not certain whether Naruto even wanted him with him, but he would not let him alone now that he knew that Madara was targeting Naruto too. Even in their flat he remained watchful, but of course they could not stay together all the time as they didn't accompany each other to the bathroom. When Sasuke returned to the bedroom he saw that Naruto was talking to someone, and for some seconds he stood still in astonishment.

“What's that? A speaking frog?” he asked.

“Actually a toad,” Naruto replied. “Fugasaku from Myoboku Mountain.”

Frog or toad – for Sasuke the situation was grotesque.

“He taught me senjutsu there, and he gave me my copy of the Gutsy Ninja.”

A toad that not only speaks but also is some kind of ninja, Sasuke thought.

“This is Sasuke, my friend and my lover,” Naruto now introduced Sasuke to the toad.

The toad looked at Sasuke, making him feel ridiculous. Also he sensed the animosity in the toad's eyes.

“So he's the one for whose sake you won't leave Music Town,” Fugasaku said.

“That's right,” Sasuke replied, going over to Naruto and sitting down next to him, leaning heavily against him. He took Naruto's arm and laid it around his own shoulders. Naruto knew that even though Sasuke was being supported by him now he was also ready to fight for him if necessary.

“He needs me,” Naruto said, caressing Sasuke's shoulder. “He needs me to protect him from doing something stupid, as attacking Danzou on his own.”

The words were meant to hurt Sasuke, but Sasuke was too much concerned about Naruto to care about it.

“I need you to be with me,” he said. “I need you to dance with me, to have breakfast with me, to talk to me about what's weird in this town, to smile at me and with your smile make me feel as if the sun was shining again after a long time of rain.”

Naruto did not smile, but looked down.

Sasuke kissed him on his cheeks. He wanted to add that he needed him to have sex with him too, but as he had no idea when they would have sex again he only said: “I need you to embrace me and to cuddle with me when we fall asleep and we when we wake up in the morning.”

He leant against Naruto even more heavily now, and when Naruto finally looked at him he smiled himself, and again Naruto thought that when he was smiling Sasuke was prettier than any girl. He felt sad.

“He's just one person,” Fugasaku said.

“He's Sasuke. He's my friend, and my lover,” Naruto replied.

“You're Naruto, the child of destiny. You cannot only live for your love. You need to save the world.”



Sasuke dissolved the embrace in order to look at Naruto from some distance. He saw Naruto's sadness and confusion, and like always when he was serious he seemed most beautiful to Sasuke, as if something of his soul was shining through his face. Still he felt worried for him.

“Why should he save the world?” he asked. “He already has to cope with the kyuubi. Nobody has ever asked him whether he wanted it, and still he's responsible for it now. He can't be responsible for saving the whole world too.”

“It's his destiny,” Fugasaku replied. “He cannot only live for himself, and he cannot only live for you either. The whole world has to be his love.”

“There's a prophecy one of the toads made to Jiraiya,” Naruto said. “He'd have a student who'd bring peace to the world, or total destruction. I want to do the former, not the latter.”

“So that's why the Gutsy Ninja is of such great importance to you,” Sasuke said.

“Peace was Jiraiya's greatest dream, and it's my greatest dream too.”

“So what do you want to do`”

“He'll say good-bye to his idle life in Music Town and unite the Ninja Countries.”

“He's not idle,” Sasuke replied. “He's working hard as a policeman in training.”

“You know what we're doing,” Naruto said. “We walk around, impose fines on people who drink or smoke where they're not supposed to, and help drunk people find their way home.”

“We've started our training a few weeks ago. They don't let us do any complicated stuff yet.”

“If we worked as ninja we wouldn't be regarded as beginners. We'd be taken seriously, and we'd do meaningful work.”

“As ninja we'd be hired to fight and to kill people.”

Naruto didn't answer, and this time Fugasaku didn't either.

“You do enough for peace as it is,” Sasuke continued, kissing Naruto on his cheek again. “You've seen to it that the Gutsy Ninja is in print again. You spend one hour every evening answering letters from crazy fans. Last Sunday you sung that 'lament for a fallen lover' with your band and accompanied yourself on the guitar.”

“There were only thirty people who listened,” Naruto said. “And most of them were friends or relatives of the musicians.”

“Your band has just started,” Sasuke replied. “Anyway, you don't have to save the world on your own.”

He could not tell why he found the idea of Naruto saving the world deeply disturbing now. On other days he thought that Naruto was most beautiful when he dreamt of peace for everyone.

“Don't listen to some crazy frog,” he continued. “I need you. I need you here in Music Town, alive and human. I need your laughter, and the way you make a fool of yourself when we're dancing. I need you flirting with the girls in our class at the training center, I need your helpless conversations with tourists who don't speak our language. I need you to watch football on TV every Saturday evening because you want to know how Inner Center is doing.”

He laid his cheek against Naruto's and finally Naruto responded to him and returned his embrace. Fugasaku vanished.

“I want to stay with you,” Naruto said. “But also I am the child of destiny. I need to save the world.”

“You don't have to listen to some stupid talking frog's prophecies,” Sasuke replied.

Naruto dissolved the embrace. “He's not a frog but a toad, and he taught me senjutsu. He taught Jiraiya too. He's not an enemy as Madara or Danzou, he's a friend.”

Sasuke touched his hair and kissed him on the cheek again.

“Still there's no reason why you should save the world on your own.” He sighed. “Also, what's that about this encounter with Madara when I wasn't with you?”

Naruto told him about Madara's offer to create peace at the price of his and Killerbee's life.

“Don't listen to him,” Sasuke said. “He's your enemy, and a dangerous criminal in the bargain. His promises to you are lies, just as his promises to me were lies.”

“And yet in one point he was right,” Naruto replied. “I speak of peace all the time, but I have never made any significant sacrifices for it.”

“Don't get yourself killed,” Sasuke said. “I need you alive. A lot of people need you alive.”

Naruto didn't respond.

“Let's go to bed now,” Sasuke said.

He was extremely worried. He resolved not to separate again from Naruto, if he could avoid it. He was afraid of what Danzou had written, fearing that Naruto might suddenly decide to return to his friends in Konoha, he was more afraid of Madara and his offer of peace, and he was most afraid of Fugasaku. He felt powerless, as he could not make Naruto stay in Music Town by force.

Of course they still did not accompany each other to the bathroom. Sasuke listened intently to the sound of Naruto taking a shower, fearing that he might again hear the frog's voice, and he was relieved when Naruto came out and was still on his own. He was scared.

They left their place half an hour earlier than usual in order to inform their superiors about Madara. Their teachers had not arrived yet, so they first told the secretary about it, but she didn't take it seriously and told them to wait. Only when someone else came in to ask her a question they managed to tell that man that Madara was in town. The man immediately took the boys to his boss so that they could tell her their story, and her reaction was again to take them to her own boss...

So the boys were told to wait again and then passed on higher and higher in the hierarchy until they found themselves opposite the head of the police, the same man Sasuke had spoken to when he had applied for a job.

“Madara, the head of Akatsuki, is in town,” Sasuke said. “He's targeting Naruto.”

“He's targeting Sasuke too,” Naruto said, annoyed that Sasuke presented him as the one who needed to be protected. “He tries to convince him to cooperate with him.”

“And he needs Naruto as he's after the bijuu,” Sasuke added.

“What about Killerbee?” the head of the police asked.

“He's being targeted too,” Naruto answered.

“And my team,” Sasuke said. “He threatened to kill us all.”

“So all of you need to be protected,” the head of the police said. “Can you give me your friends' addressed so that we may contact them?”

They did so, and he went out to talk to his assistant and tell her to send people both to Killerbee's flat and to all of Sasuke's former team members. Having done so he returned to his room, where Sasuke and Naruto were waiting for him.

“Now concerning the two of you,” he said. “These are the measures we'll take in order to protect you...”

 

A/N: Thanks again for your reviews and your plusses! You can find my answers at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/14965-blessed-realm/ .It is now possible to access the thread without registration at the forums.