As Above So Below

As Above So Below
Chapter 12

Unknowing that, despite the differences in time between Konoha and America, Stefan and the Konohans were mounting a rescue mission, Nathan and Sasuke thought that the door would not open for another eleven days. And both men spent this first day of the reunion in deep contemplation.

Sasuke, determined to win Naruto back, began a not quite subtle campaign of gentle sexual terrorism. It was, after all, Naruto. Subtlety would completely pass her by unnoticed. He never lost an opportunity to touch her. A stroke of her shoulder or side in passing, a cornucopia of the slight but oh so intimate smiles that he’d always reserved for Naruto alone, making sure to let his lips brush softly against the shell of her ear when he whispered things into them that were not meant for children’s ears.

And Naruto burned hot and cold with excitement and guilt, her world so completely skewed into surrealism that at times she was convinced this was all just a really long dream, much like the ones she used to have so many of, years ago. Had Sasuke not shown up in her life again, she would have spent the days of Nathan’s convalescence and the period of waiting for Stefan’s return in Nathan’s bed. But she couldn’t do that; not with Sasuke there. And somehow, all the passion and desire she used to have for the blonde man had burnt to ashes in her unrequited love for the boy she couldn’t have. She spent the first night, and the next few, with the kids.

Thankfully, with the medicine that Shinra had brought from Suzanne, Nathan’s infection quickly cleared up, and he experienced no fever after the second day. His side was sore, and would continue to be so for several days, but he was no longer bed bound, and he watched Sasuke’s actions, and felt anger mount.

Didn’t the boy know how much his actions were hurting the blonde woman? Surely, Nathan understood why Sasuke was doing it, but did the haunted look in her eyes mean nothing to him? He cornered the dark youth that looked so desperately like his fiercely yearned for husband at the first opportunity.

But he got a completely unexpected reaction from Sasuke; instead of defending his actions in a cold but logical way, instead of taking offense at what should only have been perceived as interference, Sasuke instead had given him the exactly same smile Stefan always did, when he was teasing and exciting his blonde husband; like a cold siren. The look that had always meant the blonde was about to be made love to.

Stunned by the excitement the look and smile had given him, Nathan had stumbled back a step, sure Sasuke was about to kiss or touch him.

Sasuke himself was amused by the look of mingled panic and passion on the blonde man’s face, as Nathan virtually backed himself into a corner to evade what the boy had not as yet, physically offered but simply emotionally.

“W…what… what are you doing…” Nathan stammered, tense.

“Relax,” Sasuke breathed warmly over the other man’s face, despite the fact that Nathan was slightly taller than him. “I’m not going to touch you… yet. But you should be helping me, not hindering me. Because, I know what you are to Stefan, what you are to Naruto, what you are to his children. And you’re right; I do want him. He’s mine, and nothing will change that. I’ve hurt my dobe a lot over the years, and I have yet again, though this time through no fault of my own. I’m not going to hurt him, anymore. If he wants the four of you, then he shall have you.”

Confused, Nathan crowded a littler tighter into the corner. Sure, Sasuke had said he wouldn’t touch him, but he added that slightly sinister yet. And Nathan would allow no man to touch him but Stefan; no matter how much Sasuke was like him.

“What do you mean by that?” He asked hoarsely.

Aware that he Nathan’s complete attention, and had completely diffused the man’s anger, Sasuke stepped back with a slight smirk, watching Nathan heave a breath of relief at his distance.

“It should be obvious, even to a dobe like you, Nathan,” Sasuke said slowly, watching the man’s reactions. “This place is not for you, not anymore. The police are waiting for you. You and your husband both. And Naruto can’t lie to save his life; it will come out that he killed some of the men at your house. And though you all may have had excellent reasons, you still are both guilty of killing several men. You will go to jail, and they will take your children away. Even when you get out, if your children haven’t grown up, they will never let you have them back. Naruto has told me how bigoted this would is against children and homosexuality. Do you really want all of that?”

Defeat was expressed in every line of Nathan’s body, giving the boy a twinge of remorse that it was his words that brought the blonde man to this pass. But he pressed on.

“So why allow it? There’s another place, you know. They don’t care about the private lives of people. You can have your man and your children, and no one will raise an eyebrow. There will be no prisons, no foster families or orphanages for you and yours there. Think about it, Nathan.”

Sasuke took another step back, his face growing cold. “Naruto is mine. I will not allow him to languish in an alien prison. Not Naruto. It would kill him. And Naruto’s heart has been broken enough; I will not allow him to grieve for his children… or the men he’s come to love. You are coming back to Konoha with me. All of you. You, Stefan, your children, Naruto… we’re all going back. And there we’ll stay.”

He began to slowly back away as his words began to sink in. “Think about it, Nathan. A world where you don’t have to hide the love you feel for another man; where you don’t have to fear being persecuted for not only that, but for protecting what is yours. A world were you don’t have to fear prison, or the loss of your children. A world of clean air, pure water, and the ability to love, to have and to hold what you want. A world based on the strength of your heart and your hands. A world like Konoha… Think about it.”

He turned away, then paused at the door. “And I won’t stop with Naruto. He’s mine, and the sooner he realizes that, the better for us all. Help me. You know what we are to each other. And we can have it all… in Konoha.”

Sasuke vanished out the door. He had a dobe to seduce.

But Naruto, for all her density at times, had figured out what he was doing, and had taken steps to avoid it. It was but another crushing load on her heart. Why couldn’t Sasuke understand? She’d made vows, legal and binding, with Stefan, and not quite so legal but just as binding with Nathan. Vows. She would not, could not break them, and stay true to who she was, no matter how unfated the body she now wore was. This is what she’d had to live with for eighteen long years, and that was that. It didn’t matter how fiercely her heart throbbed and ached. She was a man of her word.

Little Sasuke and Narue suddenly had a shadow; where they went, so did she, and vice versa. A child, especially one in her arms, was the best deterrent to Sasuke’s amour. Naturally, both children were savvy enough to realize what was going on, and while Narue would agreeably fall in with Sasuke’s suggestion that oh, the weather was so fine outside, why shouldn’t they go out and play, Sasuke, his fathers’ son all the way, steadfastly refused to abandon his mother. Little Sasuke was far more aggressive in his protection of his mother, with his Uchiha-like scowls and glares, than little Narue, who was apt to giggle, chirping encouragement to the older Sasuke whenever he would try to steal a hug, a kiss, or a caress.

Naruto even went so far once, as to use the little boy in her arms as a shield against Sasuke, who was promptly bitten on the arm. Bitten! Sasuke Uchiha, by his little clone.

It was not to be endured.

And late that afternoon, Suzanne and Jason arrived.

Naturally, Suzanne promptly and thoroughly examined Nathan, from his tonsils to his toenails, and drew in a shaky breath when she saw his wound was healing nicely, and his infection well on its way to oblivion. She and Jason had never had children; Suzanne was barren, and Jason had refused to find the only immortality available with another woman. Suzanne was his heart. He would never hurt her so, no matter how she’d urged him to father children with another in their shared young adulthood. Oh, Jason loved to look; always had, always would. But that was it. Privately, Suzanne was of the opinion that had one of the lovely ladies he spied on ever invited him, he would have frantically stammered and run away. Now, both were far too old, to either sire or bear, and Nathan was their child; had been so since the moment he drew breath, mere hours before his biological mother had died. They could not possibly love him any more than if Jason had provided the seed, and Suzanne the egg and womb. He was their son.

And some misbegotten freak had shot him! Had Nathan not killed him already, both of them would have gleefully and bloodthirstily ended his life; probably more violently, lingeringly, and painfully than a shot through the heart. The past two days had been an unmitigated nightmare for both of them.

The police had arrived, with news that Nathan and Stefan were wanted in connection with several murders, and that it was believed that both men had gone into hiding with their wife and children. And the news that Nathan had been shot and that some horrific battle had taken place at the Madara home had held them both on the edge of hysteria. Where was their son, their son and daughter in law, their grandchildren? They were almost paralyzed with dread and fear. Until the call came in from Naruto. Though both of them loved her like a daughter, and not simply because she was genetically identical to Nathan, they’d never loved her more than they had when she breathlessly told them that Nathan was wounded, but quite alive.

Since Suzanne and Jason Sannin were the closest living relatives to Nathan Arashi, and had always kept in very close contact with their son and his family, naturally they were being scrutinized within an inch of their lives; if Nathan was going to surface, he would do so through them. Their house was watched, their phone tapped, and police tended to come and go at will, convinced contact would be made.

And so it was, but Naruto was smart, had disguised her voice cleverly, and had used certain words that only Nathan’s family members would have; careful wording after that let them know Nathan’s state of injury and Stefan’s disappearance. Unable to come at the moment, as a police captain had been with them when the call came in, they’d sent Shinra to pick them up.

Now, a day later, and after the most complex fandance ever that allowed the old couple to leave their haunts and go where the wanted hid, thanks in great part to Suzanne’s old highschool chum Zunie and her boy friend of fifty years, Sanderson. The friends took on the Sannin’s persona, and vice versa, leaving Suzanne and Jason clear to make that so important visit to their son.

And though now Nathan was convinced that Naruto had never been mentally troubled, had never suffered from delusions, they still held back. Nathan had been shot, for god’s sake. It was a wonder he didn’t hallucinate anything stranger. No, it was impossible. Stefan, god help him, was lost somewhere, and would soon surface in much the same manner as Naruto had. And they would be able to pass on directions to him, and then the Sannins would make arrangements to smuggle the entire family out of the country; perhaps to Japan. Stefan’s grandfather came from Japan, and family members still lived there. And they would follow. They had already been tentatively discussing retiring, even before this latest resurgence of Naruto’s illness. And since it was obviously affecting Nathan now, perhaps time was ripe. They had more than enough money, and would not have to rely on Stefan’s wealth. Thankfully, the bulk of the Madara fortune lay in foreign banks; the American accounts had been frozen already. Yes, it was time. As soon as Stefan came out of hiding, and he could never stay away from Nathan long, they would relocate to Japan, where the American police would be unable to touch them. Stefan was a dual citizen; and the murder of American thugs would worry the Japanese government not at all. They would find sanctuary there.

Despite the Sannins’ inability to accept the truth of Naruto’s past, it was a very lovely visit, on all their parts, save Sasuke. Naruto loved them not only for who they reminded her of, but because these duplicates had been a part of her life for a long time. Nathan, naturally, welcomed his parents at any time, especially now, when everything was so terrible. As for Sasuke; they were an annoyance in their refusal to accept all of Naruto, no matter how incredulous it seemed to them, and the fact it was impossible to seduce her when them around. Thankfully, they couldn’t stay long. They were going to return home very soon, and begin the secret preparations for the move abroad.

Now they just had to wait for Stefan. Nathan, of course, refused to budge without his husband. He was serenely sure he would see his dark lover in eleven… no, now ten more days. He had to rely on Sasuke’s word that the Konohans would not harm him. He would see him soon. And my god, would Stefan get an armful then.

Nathan wistfully watched the Sannins leave, wishing things were as they used to be. He hated hiding out, fearing discovery and all that it would entail. And the realization that there was a major move on the horizon made him even more thoughtful.

He’d been to Japan, several times. They’d frequently vacationed there, among Stefan’s kinfolk. Hell, even Sasuke and Narue were fluent in Japanese, as was he, though not as smoothly. But it was still an alien society to him. And that made him think even harder about Sasuke’s earlier words.

Japan. Konoha. Both alien places to him. And in Konoha, perhaps the guilt of his inability to let Naruto go would be assuaged. Naruto could have her soulmate, her Sasuke, and he and Stefan could still have her, and the children wouldn’t lose a parent or two or three.

Everyone would benefit, as Sasuke had said.

But what of his parents? They didn’t believe in Konoha. But then again, neither had he, until Stefan vanished through an impossible green door. Perhaps it was time to talk to Sasuke about this again.

He could no more go to Konoha without Suzanne and Jason than he could to Japan without Stefan.

They were family, and family meant everything to Nathan.

Sasuke, for his part, found Nathan as easy to read as Naruto. That his adoptive parents were important to Nathan, and likewise to Naruto, threw a new wrinkle in things. But it was encouraging to see Nathan staring so thoughtfully at him all evening long. He wondered what Tsunade and Jiraiya would do when faced with their duplicates. He couldn’t help but smirk at the thought. Oh, things would be lively in Konoha. And of course, if Naruto wanted them to come as well, hell… what was one or two more? He’d always been aware that with Naruto came bonds of friendship other than the one they shared. Even before Naruto’s loss to this world, Sasuke had been forced to put up with Naruto’s wide circle of friends. He was grateful that Stefan had somehow managed to curtail such a gathering. It had to be Stefan; Nathan was as gregarious as Naruto, naturally. Thus, Stefan had to be the one that had kept this world’s circle of friends to a dull roar. Otherwise, Sasuke might have to consider moving half a city worth of people to Konoha. Bringing in six other worlders would be strenuous enough.

He made a mental note to ask the other raven how such an impossibility had been accomplished.

******

Night had fallen, little tummies were filled to bursting with the delicious foods the Sannins had brought, and the children were now safely asleep in their bed.

Sasuke was ready, and the gun shy looks from his dobe made him aware that Naruto realized just how vulnerable she really was right now.

Little did she know how vulnerable. Nathan had come to a decision. They would go to Konoha. And all that this entailed.

Nathan caught Sasuke’s eyes, and nodded slowly.

Sasuke couldn’t help but smirk. Naruto would not be sleeping with her children tonight.