Path to Perdition (complete)

A/N: hey people, we're back! this is going to have a bit of angsting so be prepared!!

Important: I have to thank all my reviewers for sticking with me, even though the updates have been delayed for so long! It's really helped me a lot and I'm sorry I can't thank you all one by one! This chapter is dedicated to you guys!

Chapter 12:

“M…marry you?” Naruto stared at the dark haired man as though he was out of his mind.

“Yes, Naruto marry me…be mine, lets just be together, share the same name and live together forever. No more running, we’ll just share everything and work at this relationship…”

Naruto turned away. “I don’t know…we….can you give me some time?”

Sasuke looked a little annoyed, but then bowed his head. “If that’s what you want. I’ll take a bath now…please don’t go out without me, today. We might get into trouble.”

Naruto watched him walk away, dazed. He stared at the sheets; marry Sasuke? He closed his eyes, he wanted to. Of course he wanted to…just to hold that dark haired man in his arms and breathe in his scent. But he shook his head, no…living with Sasuke was one thing… but marrying him?

He was too soiled for that. It was ok; to just have sex, but marrying meant completely accepting Sasuke’s love… meant belonging to Sasuke and no one else. He’d just be burden and if he died fighting Orochimaru, it would mean pain for Sasuke…

Naruto changed into some clothes, disobeying Sasuke’s order to stay in. he stretched and then jumped out of the window. He landed softly and then dusted himself off. He decided he’d think about it later….right now he wanted a mission. And he wanted to convince Tsunade to give him one.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsunade stared at him. “You want a mission? Naruto it’s too soon for that! The council…”

“I don’t care what the council says!” he cut her off. “When I was with Orochimaru…I got into a habit. Whenever I was frustrated, I sparred with someone…a death match. And right now I’m frustrated. I’m dangerous…I can’t spar with anyone here…unless there’s someone you want dead.”

Tsunade stared at him. The old Naruto would never say that, but this one seemed to have a dead, determined look in his eye. “What kind of mission do you want?”

“Anything with strong people in it….I don’t want to have to hold back.” Naruto titled his head to one side.

Tsunade stare at him before handing out an A-class mission. It was to find a group of rogue nins….the leftovers of Akatsuki. Naruto smirked devilishly as he felt the anticipation flowing over in him. He wanted to kill those bastards…his long standing enmity with the Akatsuki had made hunting a lot of fun.

Tsunade gulped at the way the blond’s eyes glinted. In a minute he was gone. Biting her lip, Tsunade called out to one of the shinobi’s to ask Uchiha Sasuke to meet her immediately.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He could smell them…his tongue snaked out, wetting his lips. If he had been younger his eyes would have been red and Kyuubi would have taken over, but now since they had merged, all that happened was a strong blood lust. He growled to himself softly, peering at the group of nins huddled in front of a fire. Naruto almost sighed…these were the minions. After all Itachi was gone and Naruto himself had taken out Deidara and Sasori.

The others had disbanded. When Tsunade had given him this mission, he’d thought he’d be dealing with more dangerous ones. Smirking about how he had expected too much, Naruto attacked. The attack was fast and gory. Naruto had no idea what he was doing; he just wanted to be less frustrated.

When he finished, he just stood there, unseeing, drenched in crimson blood. He didn’t want to come out of that trance, he didn’t want to look around… didn’t want to see what he’d done…see what he’d become. You’re covered in blood Naruto-kun…you like it don’t you? You’ve finally become the monster you swore not to…

“Naruto…”

The voice snapped him out of his trance and yanked him away from Orochimaru’s voice that seemed to whisper in there. He looked up to see Sasuke giving him the usual blank stare. His voiced cracked as he spoke. “Sasuke?”

The dark haired man just glared. “I thought I told you not to go anywhere without me, dobe? Since when have I had to repeat myself twice?”

Naruto bristled. Since you became my toy, bastard was on the tip of his tongue, but he held back. “I felt like going on a mission, bastard. It’s not good to keep jounins cooped up!”

“Whatever. Your mission is over…Hokage sent me to escort you. She said something like ‘tell him that time is near…’ She said you’d know what she meant…also she wants to talk to you…” Sasuke informed him, turning around like he expected the blond to follow.

Naruto frowned sullenly as he followed the other young man out. They walked in silence for a while. Then Sasuke looked at him a little mockingly. “Sulking, dobe?”

Naruto’s head shot up at that. He glared at Sasuke angrily. “Of course not, teme! I don’t have time for things like that…”

Sasuke just gave him a disbelieving smirk. Silence once more…and then… “How about we get something to eat, huh dobe? After all, you ran off with out lunch and it’s almost evening now…”

Naruto mulled over Sasuke’s olive branch. Then he gave the other a small smile. “Ok then. But can we go home first? I need to change…” suddenly Sasuke shoved something at him. He realized they were a change of clothes.

“Change quickly dobe…”

Naruto started to change going through what Sasuke had brought. Black jeans, black wife-beater, black boxers and…wait a minute…an orange button up shirt. He looked at Sasuke questioningly.

“Thought it would go well. We’re going to this nice restaurant…you leave the shirt unbuttoned. It’ll give you a splash of color.” Sasuke shrugged looking bored.

Naruto looked pained. “Sasuke…I can’t go back to being…”

“I’m not asking you to do that. I’m just asking you to wear some color because it’ll do you good. Look at me…I’m wearing some color too…” he pointed to his outfit. Blue jeans and a light blue shirt.

Naruto wondered how he hadn’t realized. He finished changing trying not to notice Sasuke’s eyes which were looking over him. Then they made their way into town.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a small restaurant, but cozy. It was done up in nice warm colours, they served warm sake and the food was delicious. It served Chinese food as well. Sasuke had ordered meat dumplings, and the spices in it almost made Naruto cum. Then they had ginger chicken, fried rice and finished with darsaan for dessert.

Naruto felt happy and peaceful for the first time in many days. Sasuke was just keeping the conversation light, they were gossiping like old women about their friends. It just made Naruto forget that he was an outsider. Sasuke also asked for some jasmine tea…when Naruto crinkled his nose he had actually grinned…even if it was a small grin.

“Dobe, you need to taste the flavour. Swirl it around in your mouth, it’s a gentle drink…so don’t gulp it down.” Naruto had tried doing that and had actually begun to like the tea.

After they finished, he and Sasuke had gone to Mt. Hokage, and just sat in silence looking at view. That was when Naruto wondered if he could ask Sasuke…what Sasuke really thought when he had seen Naruto standing their drenched in blood, earlier in the day…so Naruto who was still Naruto somewhere at the back of his mind, asked him.

Sasuke looked thoughtful. “All right I’ll be honest. I think that it is something you need to get under control, but then I understand that it’s hard. You were with Orochimaru for so long…even I picked up some habits when I was under him, I can understand that you would have gone through a lot more being there for so long. So I guess, I didn’t think it was horrible or anything….those men would have been killed any way.”

Naruto stared at him for a while, before turning back. “So you didn’t mind?”

“I did mind, but I understand. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to control it or not.” Then Sasuke bent down and kissed the blond softly. They kissed like that for a while and then poofed back to Sasuke’s house. They continued to kiss.

Naruto wasn’t in the mood for sex…but he was willing if Sasuke wanted to. But then apart from kissing his neck, Sasuke just cuddled into him. Naruto heard the dark haired man whisper a question. “Can we just…stay like this tonight? You know…not do anything?”

Naruto nodded, burying his face into Sasuke’s chest. He heard Sasuke’s small sigh, and promptly fell asleep. Sasuke just held him, listening to his breath, enjoying the warm contact. He sent a message to Tsunade saying that Naruto would visit her tomorrow.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The blond sat at the lake stretching his legs. He was confused about last night’s intimacy. Sasuke had not brought up the question of marriage again. He was still in two minds about it. He loved Sasuke…but what if marrying Sasuke, put the man in danger? What if Sasuke really hated that he was so spoilt? Sasuke should be marrying someone pure…

He turned as he heard someone and saw Shikamaru; with someone he hadn’t seen in ages… “Gaara…”

“Hey there Naruto…”

They both sat down next to him. Shikamaru smiling to himself asked softly. “So what are you pondering about?”

Naruto thought about denying, but realized that the other two would see through that. “Sasuke asked me to marry him.”

“That’s good ne? I still don’t understand what you’re worrying about…” Gaara stated, watching the sunset.

“I have a lot to worry about. Marrying him, might put him in danger. After all I am going to dealing with Orochimaru. And I can’t bear the thought of putting him danger…” the blond sighed, burying his face in his hands.

Gaara shrugged. “I still don’t see why that’s a problem. It’s not like Sasuke is some civilian. He’s shinobi and it’s always going to be dangerous. Sasuke dealt with Orochimaru, before. He’ll deal with it again.”

“But…”

“Let everything out, Naruto. Tell us what exactly is bothering you.” Shikamaru said, still staring at the red tinted clouds.

“Well…Sasuke should marry someone pure. I’m…spoilt. I’ve been with Orochimaru so long that some of these horrible habits have been ingrained in me. Really bad habits. I have no idea who I really am; I can never go back to what I used to be. I don’t want to hurt Sasuke more. I don’t want Sasuke to hate me.” Naruto blurted everything.

Shikamaru and Gaara looked at each other. Then Gaara shrugged. Shikamaru muttered about it being so troublesome and turned to Naruto. “I’m going to answer all your questions at one go, so listen. Sasuke was with Orochimaru too. He learned bad habits too! Sasuke can’t marry anyone pure because of two reasons…he loves you and he’s spoilt, as you put it, himself. Sasuke will not hate you…ever. You should all ready see that after everything you put him through. You’ve both never really given up on each other. You really compliment each other as a team. You’ve both been with Orochimaru and seen what he can do. Both of you have been through so many life changing situations, that going back to what you were, is not an option. Have you ever thought about what Sasuke went through when you weren’t here? You guys can actually be happy. “

“So like Shikamaru says…there really is no problem. You’ve been given another chance to be together…for a little while at least…to share your love and announce it to the world and to share your everything. You can take this chance, but you’re too caught up in self pity. You stay like this…then you’ll just waste away and so will he. You need to make up your mind.” Gaara completed.

Naruto stared at them, before nodding. “Yeah, so I have. Maybe I’ll have to say yes…give the bastard something to think about. Thank you.”

Gaara shrugged. Then just as Naruto was leaving, he called out to him. “Hey Naruto…did you know I’m Kazekage? The title of Hokage isn’t lost, you know? You just have to convince people that you’re back….”

Naruto suddenly smiled. A real smile…soft smile. “Yeah…”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He sent Tsunade a message that he would definitely meet her, the next day. Then he hurried home. He stopped at that thought…home, his and Sasuke’s home. When he entered he saw that Sasuke had all ready set their places at the dining table.

They ate in silence, Naruto wondering when to bring up the matter. He waited till he and Sasuke turned in after watching some TV. He lay in bed, waiting. He could hear Sasuke changing, could imagine what it looked like, his clothes slithering to the floor. Again when Sasuke came, he seemed to want to hold Naruto…no sex.

Naruto snuggled up to him, wondering how to word it. Then he grinned against Sasuke’s chest. The dark haired man looked down and got the sincere full blown grin on Naruto’s face. Then the blond spoke.

“You know what, teme? You remember that really important question you asked me?”

Sasuke’s heart leaped into his mouth. “What question dobe?”

“I can’t be bothered to tell you if you don’t remember. But for when you do…it’s a yes.”

“You mean you want to marry me? Didn’t you have doubts?”

“Well, I realized since we’re both fucked up, it wouldn’t matter. This way we’ll keep each other sane. And well, I love you.”

Sasuke smiled. “I love you too.” They both snuggled, feeling the mutual happiness coursing through them, just content to know that they were going to be happy for however long they could.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: I liked how I ended this chapter. And to have Shikamaru and Gaara sermonize…reminds me of some of my friends! Hope you liked it. It will be updated of course. Let’s see where this goes! Ja!

Taka