As Above So Below

As Above So Below
Chapter 13

Though the adults thought the children were asleep, they were not. Narue, the moment Daddy had left, thinking them both fast asleep, got out of the bed she shared with Sasuke and Mommy, and wandered over to the window. She dearly loved to watch the moon sail across the sky, with its attendant wisps of clouds. The stars twinkling here at this farmhouse had no rivals in the brilliant city lights, and were thus clearer and brighter than she’d ever seen. The magical hour between dusk and full night was always an enchantment for her.

“I can’t believe you,” Sasuke suddenly spoke up, his voice low and sullen from the bed. Obviously he’d been tricking Daddy too.

Narue turned to look at him, her face limned in moonlight. She knew what he was talking about, and she sighed. She’d tried to explain it to him before, but there was always a grown up about, or something happening to interfere with a good, juicy, kid-to-kid talk. And she was well aware that such would soon be beyond Sasuke’s reach. Despite his youth, he was moving quickly into adulthood, and would soon lose that wonderful quality that children could possess. Adults always tended to over analyze, over think, over quantify, and over worry about everything; and Sasuke was doing all of the above right now.

Giving one last regretful look at her bewitching night sky, she ambled back over to the bed, picked up the ruffled skirt of her nightie, and crawled in beside him under the covers.

Sasuke lay beside her, stiff and tense, unwilling to give an inch. As far as he was concerned, she was a traitor to the family, and it bewildered and agonized him. Narue! The closest, dearest, most beloved, most precious person in Sasuke’s life. A traitor to the family. Unbeknownst to anyone, he’d wept over this very horrible thing.

“Don’t be like that, Sauce,” Narue crooned softly, swarming into his resistant embrace. “You just don’t understand. You’re too close to growing up; you’re losing your gift. Please, don’t go yet. Don’t leave me alone in childhood.”

Sasuke gave a soft, reluctant sigh; she had a point. Already he’d noticed that the way he sensed things, the way he thought, was changing. And he was noticing more about the world around him than the things that delighted and ensorcelled a child. The depth of the adult world and concerns was so complex and convoluted that it was crowding out the sweet delights and miracles that he lived with every day.

“But I still don’t understand,” he began in a strained voice, nevertheless beginning to melt against her. Thank god he couldn’t see her face too clearly; if she wrinkled her little nose at him, he would be lost. He never could resist his sister. “She’s our mother. She’s Papa and Daddy’s wife; she belongs to them, not this… this… Sasuke.” His own name in connection with the strange dark boy was almost bitter on his tongue. It didn’t take much to realize that this creature was the boy who he’d been named for. Despite the older Sasuke’s youth.

Seventeen was monstrously old to someone as young as both Sauce and Roo. Even so, little Sasuke knew there was a great difference in age between his mother and her long lost lover. Like Narue, he had enormous hearing potential for things adults tended to deem beyond them. Children were young; not stupid. Though he really couldn’t understand the whys and wherefores of this age discrepancy; he knew both his Mama and Daddy accepted this boy as the real Sasuke Uchiha.

“You’re thinking too grown uppy again, Sauce,” Narue chirped softly, lest they be overheard and this chance at a real talk between them ended before it really began. “Let me ask you this; do you think this family would be better if we had just a single father?”

Sasuke shook his head violently; like Narue, he’d frequently been teased or scorned because of his bisexual fathers, and the mother that permitted such. And like his sister, he pitied them, even as they angered and hurt him. Their own bigotry was robbing them of the richness and splendor that was Papa and Daddy.

And Narue understood. After all, they’d often taken refuge in each other’s arms after the pain of their so called peers digs and slurs. Even in Papa’s special school. It was something they both agreed on.

“What if,” Narue went on eagerly, “it got only better? What if we got another father? I’ve heard Big Sasuke talking to Daddy; he tells excellent stories. If you weren’t so upset with him, you’d have listened to them too. He’s a ninja, Sauce! A real live ninja! And if we were in K… Kona…” She stumbled over the unfamiliar word a moment, then went on stronger. “If we were in Konoha, you’d be training to be a ninja too! With kunai and shuriken and everything.”

Despite himself, Sasuke began to take interest. She had a very valid point. The stories the Uchiha could tell! He relaxed against his sister even more, arms coming around to hug her back.

“Besides,” Narue went on, contentedly, feeling Sasuke give in against her body, “Mommy loves him so much. And he loves her too. I heard him tell Daddy that if we went to Konoha together, we could all stay together as a family.” Her she frowned, and despite the filtered moonlight, Sasuke could see her nose wrinkling in consternation, and his heart thumped. “I wish we didn’t have to move away. I loved our house, and all the beautiful things in it. I miss it all.”

She sounded so mournful, Sasuke squeezed her tight enough to make her squeak. “I’m sorry, Roo. It’s all gone. You saw the house burning.”

Tears bedewed her long lashes, glittering in the half dark, and Sasuke abruptly understood his father’s heart when Naruto or Nathan wept; murderous. If Mama, Daddy, and the Uchiha hadn’t killed those men, he’d want to do it all over again.

“Don’t cry, Roo,” he went on desperately. “We’ll just make another home; a better home, with more beautiful things than ever in it. I promise.”

She gave watery laugh. “Yeah, and this time Mommy can have the pantry she always wanted.”

“That’s right,” Sasuke said, hastily wiping her tears away with a finger, grateful there were no more behind them. “You know she’s always hated that crook in the wall. Said it made it impossible to reach the shelves in the corner.”

“Yeah!” Narue said, excitement taking over. “This time we can build the perfect rooms! I want a loft in mine! So I can hang crystal beads from the railing, like in that magazine Mommy loved to read.” She’d often dreamily imagined the chiming and clicking of such a curtain since she saw the spread. And they would flash so brightly at sunrise and sunset. Papa had given her several small crystals, and Daddy had called them rainbow stuffed diamonds. She loved to turn them in the sunlight, throwing prisms against the wall or the rippling water of the pond in the backyard.

Relaxing completely, Sasuke eased himself and his sister back onto the bed, tucking her tight to his side, her head under his chin. “Alright, Roo. You win; you always win. I’ll think about Big Sasuke in a better light. Okay?”

Narue squirmed in delight, making Sasuke lightly pinch her shoulder to settle her down. He was ticklish, by god, something only his family knew. “Let’s get to sleep. It’s late.”

Narue yawned daintily, and snuggled closer. “Yeah. Night, Sauce…” She yawned again.

“Night, Roo.”

Very shortly thereafter, the little girl was asleep, but not so Sasuke. Narue had been right. He’d foolishly allowed his wrath to close his ears, and he’d learned things from her that he should have already known.

He knew that Granma and Granpa talked about relocating to Japan. He knew why they couldn’t stay. Mama and Daddy had killed all those men at the house. Which was, in little Sasuke’s eyes, only right and proper. They’d hit Mama. And that other man pulled Roo’s hair! They had scared her and made her cry. The scoundrels needed to die.

As for Japan, moving there would be interesting. But he’d not listened about a possible move to Konoha. Despite his high intelligence, and the fact that he too knew his Mama’s stories, he thought Konoha was just another place in the world, like Japan. He didn’t quite understand that it was a whole universe away. Still, it would be even more interesting.

He might become a ninja himself! He’d been quite fascinated with the history of them during visits to Japan, but the feudal era was long over, and though ninja still existed, they were an entirely different sort. From Mama’s stories, he knew the ninja of Konoha were just like those in the old tales, only better. He didn’t exactly know what chakra was, but it sounded wonderful, and he wondered if they went to Konoha, if he would have chakra too.

And Narue was right. Naruto and Sasuke were in love with each other still; it was easy to see. And yet, Mama still loved Daddy, and he knew she still did Papa too. And after all, if life was so much more colorful and beautiful with two fathers, what would it be like with three?

With that in mind, Sasuke was finally able to find sleep, and the moon shone down through the windows on the tangle of youthful limbs below, breathing deep and even, and eyes buttoned in slumber.