A STORY IN THE SAKURA ROOM

*THERE WILL BE SMUT IN THE SECOND PART OF THE 1ST ROLL. I JUST HAVEN'T HAD THE TIME TO EDIT IT YET.

2nd Roll

SASUKE

We were two sides of the same coin, we were polar opposites but still we couldn’t help but be drawn to each other, we were never separated. We never allowed anyone in our own world.

Together we dreamed of the same dream, hoped for the same things, even the pacing of our feet, right, left, right, were the same, back on those days, we stood in the same ground, at the same time, under the same sky.

+++

Naruto woke up in the self same surroundings which faded into darkness yesterday, he woke in the self same single hospital bed, in the self same sound of men’s voices whimpering and shouting of pain on either side of him separated only by curtains, of the self same nauseating smell of disinfectants and gunpowder lingering in the air.

And of course, the self same sounds of guns being fired small and large, of mines being activated, the whooshing noise of battle planes and the trembling of the earth beneath his bare feet.

As a child of five he had hoped that he’d one day wake up to find out that all of it had just been a dream, a very bad dream, but unfortunately for him, reality wasn’t all that nice even to a five year old boy. Still he never thought of himself unfortunate, or pitiful, knowing that someone other than him with the same age, the same gender was also in the same circumstance as him.

Putting on his usual bright smile which was a deep contrast to the gloom inside the military medical tent where he was currently living in, he jumped out of the bed and immediately ran to the space between his own bed and one of the currently grimacing soldiers’ own.

“Good morning!!!” Naruto had a squeaky little voice, but the happiness on its tone was enough to give the occupants of that built up tent, nurses and soldiers alike to smile.

“Oh, you’re as cheerful as usual Naruto-kun.” One soldier whose arm was put in a bandage even put up an effort to get up a little bit to smile at the blonde boy, Naruto grinning back.

“Heh, hi nii-chan!!!”

“Good morning Naruto, is your stomach okay now?” Came the pink-haired woman which he guessed was dyed, in nurse attire carrying a tray of injectibles.

“Sakura-neechan!!! I’m fine! Just the berries I picked didn’t do well with my tummy! But Naruto’s okay again! Doncha worry!”

“Brat, what kind of an idiot would pick something unknown.” A blonde haired woman with breasts as big as watermelon, well, in Naruto’s view that is, came up behind Sakura-neechan.

“Ah! Busty-neechan how’re ya!? Your back okay? Neechan’s mount fujis are so big so maybe that’s why you have trouble carrying them! Why don’t you give some to Sakura-neechan?”

Of course, being Naruto who was always speaking like every one couldn’t hear well, shouted all of that inside the tent full of men, that even with the soldiers’ stitches still not fully recovered, they couldn’t help but laugh at the conversation.

Doctor Tsunade was the only foreigner medic amidst the crowd of dark haired people inside the tent, the medical mission wasn’t from either side of the two forces, pros and cons alike who had grown friends in their time staying there were admitted regardless of what side they came from. It was also Tsunade who had taken in Naruto, when he woke up he was already there, not remembering anything which the doctor said was shock, even his name was from Tsunade’s deceased cousin Arashi who had been a liability during one of the air raids in the area.

“Y-you brat! Go out and play elsewhere!” Doctor Tsunade’s shriek along with the laughter of men echoed inside the tent as Naruto went running to escape the busty-neechan’s wrath, slipping under the tent’s curtain he was welcomed by a wide expanse of grass land with light brown shades of grass as tall as him after the pure earth stripped of any rocks or herbs where the tent was located.

Beside the tent was a row of military owner type jeeps where he would usually play, while behind the tent was another one where the refugees was staying helping the nurses cook and clean medical tools. Where his new friend was staying…

“Hi!” A poker faced raven-haired child stared down at him with the boy an inch taller than him before sliding the curtain of his room close to the blonde’s face without any words said.

Okay, scratch that, he’s a bastard, so they’re merely just cohabiting as the only two kids on the same age, well at least the blonde was trying.

“Hey!!! What’s that supposed to mean!? I brought you breakfast! How rude.” Naruto pouted, stepping inside the little room with only a single bed and a bed side table on his over grown shirt sagging all over his body, the sleeves even though folded was already reaching his knees and the hem of the orange shirt touching his soles.

The boy only kept silent and went back to sitting on the side of his bed, picking up the opened book put upside down so that the pages wouldn’t turn from the wind and started reading again.

This seemed not to faze the blonde, as if he wasn’t expecting for the raven to answer at all and just put the tray of food he personally asked from the kind cook so that they could eat together.

“Sasuke’s reading that book again?” Naruto muttered in wonder, asking himself how Sasuke could read such complicated characters from the book, all he could understand was the pictures, of the monkey with clothes, the monk in white robes, the pig, and the thin tall guy carrying something like a tall staff with a crescent moon on top.

The blonde didn’t ask of it anymore, he just climbed at the bed and sat behind the nonchalant raven, peering down the book with complicated foreign letters and squinted showing the difficulty of making out the words on his face, as if doing so would suddenly make it simpler to read.

“Ne, ne Sasuke, why don’t you put down that book? Let’s eat first, you haven’t had breakfast yet right? Lets eat together, the baa-chan there cooked it for us, it’s got extra meatballs but don’t tell busty-neechan or he’ll scold baachan for it.” But Sasuke acted indifferently, even though the blonde had already shook him lightly on the shoulder to get his attention the raven wouldn’t budge.

“Oooi! Sasukeeee! Come on, let’s eat! Let’s eat! Sasukeeeeee!” Naruto pointed at the tray on the table filled with food and some fruits, a couple pieces of candy he got as reward from a nurse for helping clean the jeeps yesterday.

But he hadn’t expected for Sasuke to elbow him from behind quite powerfully, losing his hold of the raven’s shoulder and hitting the wall behind him which knocked some air out the boy’s lungs.

Oh yeah, he forgot.

Sasuke glared at him with fierce eyes, nearly pulling the drawer of the bed side table out of its hinges as he picked a paper and pen out of it, angrily scribbling some characters simple enough for the idiot who couldn’t get, after all his efforts to tell him by actions, that he wanted to be alone.

Sasuke couldn’t speak.

The characters on the supposedly blank note were now written with a big lettered sentence.

Leave me alone! Idiot!

“But I wanna be friends with Sasuke!”

Again the raven wrote another sentence.

I don’t want to!

“Why!? I wanna be friends with you! ‘cuz baa-chan says you’re alone! Just like me! So we should be together!”

How can you understand!? When you’ve been alone from the start! You didn’t see your family be blown to shreds in front of you!

Nor could Sasuke hear.

But his eyes, enabling him to read the blonde’s lips…

“Sasuke’s an idiot!”

The raven’s glare then unexpectedly softened with the whites slowly being exposed with the way they rounded and widened at the blonde whose back seemed to have been glued on the wall.

The blonde’s rare blue eyes blurred in Sasuke’s view because of the tears welling up on it, lips trembling even though they were tightly shut, and before Sasuke knew it, Naruto was already running out of the small room, specks of water seeping through the sheet of his bed where the blonde’s tears had fallen in the course of the boy jumping out of the bed.

Naruto ran outside the refugees’ tent behind the medical one, tears being washed off his face by the wind as he ran through the grass lands, not caring to open his eyes even as he stumbled and tripped through a stray stone.

Of course, he knew Sasuke couldn’t hear or speak, but still he wanted to make him smile. He wanted to be friends with Sasuke. Because he’d been alone from the start, every meeting was important to him, as well as every farewell.

The first time he woke up, he couldn’t remember anything, he was with people he didn’t know, in a place he was unfamiliar to, but busty-neechan told him one time. That no meeting is irrelevant, so he should treasure the people around him, because he’s not alone anymore.

Arashi-niichan who took care of him and treated him a son like no other father could and died.

Iruka-niichan who taught him how to read and write.

Kakashi-niichan who would always play with him, scare him with his missing eye but turned out that it was just scarred while reading his near in tatters but refused to be thrown perverted book.

Sakura-neechan who’d always sew dolls for him from ripped clothes even though she wasn’t that good at it.

Before Naruto knew it, it had already gotten dark, he was already in the middle of nowhere and all he could do was cry inside the hollow big tree amidst the insanely quiet expanse of grass which seemed to Naruto, a hundred feet taller than him.

But then in the darkness the navy blue sky was soon colored by a painful glow of intense red and orange, fogged with thick smoke as the deafening sound of people shouting and planes passing by seemed to drill holes on the blonde’s head that was aching from the impact of the sound.

He could only remain there, curled up like a prawn who refused to budge with the fear of being hurt, he didn’t know why, but even getting used to the noise, the sound of pain, it still made his spine feel deep chills, all over his body he constantly shook and cried even more.

And then something dawned on him, quickly removing himself from his perch inside the hollow of that tree as something no doubt big caused a loud banging sound, the strong wind being blown towards his direction smelling of burnt fuel from the impact, as if something big had crashed on the ground, the huge bonfire itself was enough for Naruto to discover its location.

The loud thumping of his heart, so hard that it hurt, the burning of his throat both from panting and crying, the pad of his feet full of dried mud and scratches, his soiled shirt ripped here and there from having run through thorny herbs and twigs.

He was wishing something, but he wasn’t sure what he was wishing for.

Finally, he felt his knees buckle and the blonde soon felt his knees hitting the ground hard, as he stared in disbelief, the place he just came from hours ago, in flames under a big white plane with one of its wings buried deep like a knife on the ground.

“No… Sakura-neechan!!!! Iruka-niichan! Busty-neechan!!!! Kakashi-niichan! Sasuke!!!” The blonde shouted for their names repeatedly, until his voice could no longer speak, even so, his mouth continued to move as his feet unconsciously brought him from behind the medical tent that smelled a nauseating smell of flesh, metal and cloth, burning.

“No… don’t leave me alone!!!” The blonde continued to sob, harder as he soon realized that no one could survive such a thing, the flames had already swallowed the tents, the owner jeeps have already exploded. He was helpless. Just like that time when Arashi-niichan died, who had shielded him from an explosion.

I don’t want to be alone! Don’t leave me!!!

Once again he called out, repeatedly until his voice could no longer work, still he continued to sob, he remained seated on the place mere feet from the flames.

But he halted. Eyes blinking, he frantically looked around, wondering where that little voice came from.

“Whe-” Shouting hurt, but instead of being stubborn about it, he got to his feet quickly. Not at all afraid of the unmoving bodies scattered about which had been thrown off because of the explosion, he looked at their faces one by one, devoid of life that with each face he would look at he would feel a painful stab on his chest.

But there was that voice, a throaty voice coming from somewhere, faster he looked around, even if he had to endure looking for the slightest of breath on every nose and mouth, or the slightest pulse on every wrist or neck busty-neechan had taught him he continued to look around, until he saw a small hand, holding a familiar book, under the body of a man he dreaded to turn around, afraid of seeing the face of a dear one once again.

“Kakashi-nii…”

His chest never got tired of heaving, his eyes though sore never got tired of crying, he would cry, no matter how many times, because he knew they deserved his tears.

But familiar dark eyes blinking, a familiar hand holding a book flinching and that unfamiliar voice calling out to him. It made his sore limbs stand a little more amount of pain, and his shoulders stand a little more amount of burden.

Burden?

No, Sasuke’s not his burden, he’s his responsibility now.

“Na… ru… to.” What Sasuke saw was all a blur, everything was unclear except for that familiar grin he would always see the moment he’d wake up ever since a child of his own age was brought in by his late dad’s superior.

Under his back it felt soft and fleshy, something warm cradling his head, before all things faded into darkness.

+++

Where am I?

Sasuke felt tired. As if he’d run continuously for days, that he couldn’t even lift a finger.

It’s quiet.

Lifting a finger, he realized he couldn’t do it. What he knew was it was just quiet.

Oh, that’s right.

He saw the familiar ceiling of his room at the third floor of their mansion, normally he would soon smell the scent of coffee, his mother humming downstairs, hear his cousins and siblings running around on the stairs and his father with his deep huge voice reprimanding them. But today, it was just quiet.

No sound of birds tweeting.

No squealing sounds of children playing, running around.

No annoying alarm clock to start the day.

I’m alone now.

I feel tired. It’s a pain to move.

It’s a pain to get up.

No one would get mad if I sleep in since mother’s not here, I wouldn’t here her voice anymore.

So I’ll just sleep like this.

Just like everybody else.

“Sasuke!”

Who switched on the light, what, it’s bright, so annoying, that voice is so loud I couldn’t sleep.

“Sasuke! Come on!”

His ground shook together with his conscience, that annoying, bothering voice kept pestering him, it was like his ear drums are going to bleed because of it.

Slap.

“Shut up!”

The light hurt his eyes so much that he let out a groan as his arms moved to cover his face with a curse he heard from one of the soldiers one time, by then he became aware of the hot stinging sensation on his cheek, with his ducked head hidden in his arms he could see his own lap, in between his thighs there was the cold stony earth, and the warm rays of light on his sides, with the shadow of something blocking it from blinding him with its brightness.

“Na…” As he saw that annoying brat’s messy sniveling face his hand quickly moved to hold his throat, the reality beginning to sink into him with the silence that took over between them.

“I’m glad…”

The broken sob made the raven snap his eyes back at the blonde, again another fact sunk in as he watched Naruto wipe his messy face filled with snivel, tears, charcoal and dirt with the material on his tattered orange shirt, he couldn’t even recognize it anymore, the way they were ripped, and he realized, he was no better.

“I thought-I thought-I’m going-to be-alone-again.” The sentence was broken with little hiccups, Sasuke just continued to stare, becoming aware of the blonde’s bent knees and feet full of bruises and mud, his bleeding knee, the scratches on his cheeks and his throaty voice.

While Sasuke, on the other hand except for his muddy clothes and a few scratches on the elbow and knees had nothing painful to feel. He noticed too, the single pair of damp marks of footsteps from the outside of the cave to his direction now.

“I’m really…”

I’m really glad.

Whether Sasuke heard that or not, Naruto didn’t know, because before he could stop it, his body was already falling down the raven’s arms, the darkness swallowing his consciousness and senses away.

+++

The moment Sasuke came out of that cave he began to realize just what had transpired the other night, the smell off burnt fuel and the remnants of what used to be his refuge in front of him told him that it was no use looking for any living survivor. Looking at it now, if Naruto hadn’t come, he’d have been included in the pile of ashes on that burnt place, the burnt ground was still warm and steaming beneath the pad of his bare feet.

He took everything that can still be used, which was near impossible.

What he got was a decent radio and phone on one of the stray corpse’s uniform pockets, pocket knives, packets of bandages that had some burnt areas but can still be used, batteries, and a stray bottle of disinfectant.

He had to endure holding his breath while stripping the rotting corpse’s body off with its clothes. He remembered there was a river nearby, they’d have to do with anything if they want to survive.

It turned out, that as he was washing the soiled clothes on the river, that air raid last night had been a mark of the end of the war between the neighboring countries as reported by the radio on his pocket, before he had been born there was already a war, he couldn’t believe that it would all end in just one night.

Sure they had gotten what they want, but what about the lives lost for it? He couldn’t believe that innocent people had to pay for the consequences for someone’s selfishness.

By the time he returned, he wasn’t surprised to find Naruto still sleeping. Still he couldn’t believe that the dobe drooling on his sleep before his eyes was the one who had rescued him and literally brought his senses back to him.

He felt like a new born baby, hearing Naruto’s voice first and speaking the dobe’s name first, while realizing how Naruto had endured of his heavy weight, he swore to himself that he would forever protect him. He’ll never let anyone separate them, because as a bond disappears or breaks, a new one begins.

He couldn’t believe how much weight those little shoulders could lift, and to think he thought nothing of Naruto but a useless insensitive brat who was too cheerful for his own good.

With this as Sasuke’s thought he gently put down a gallon of water he got from the river, some dried twigs and a lighter with the rest of the things he got from the remnants of that tent down the ground, beside the sleeping blonde.

He knelt beside him, slowly removing Naruto’s clothes with a damp towel on his hand, and he began to wipe the dirt off the blonde’s face.

+++

The flames from the bonfire illuminated the whole area of that cave, the twigs crackled as the fire swallowed them. There against the cold and smooth wall of the cave was Sasuke resting his back, one knee bent and the other straightened as his hand unconsciously raked through soft blonde hair, Naruto’s head lying on his thigh while the blonde’s green military uniform clad body lay on the side, blue eyes glazed with sleepiness while staring absentmindedly on the dancing flames with its warm glow heating their body.

“Ne, Sasuke.”

“What?” Without black eyes taking its eyes away from the characters on that book he used his thumb of the same hand holding that book to flip another page, the other constantly petting Naruto.

“Why are you always reading that book?”

“It’s my mother’s gift for me. She gave it to me on my fifth birthday.”

“Oh.” With the quiet singing of the crickets the radio just beside Sasuke began to create sharp noises, announcing of people scattering about to look for refugees of war.

“Do you want to know what it’s about?” Naruto blinked a little, turning around so he was lying on his back and looking up at a smiling Sasuke.

“Really?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The raven chuckled. “Do I look like someone who won’t do such a thing as read someone a book?”

“Yup.” Naruto grinned cheekily, taking Sasuke’s hand to rest on his shoulder, the raven’s arm heating Naruto’s throat.

“Do you want to or not?”

“Of course, of course, Sasuke’s short tempered.”

“Hn.”

“Then what’s it about?”

The raven then flipped the entire half of the page from the very beginning. “This is a Chinese story but it was translated to English called Journey to the West, it’s the story of a monkey boy called Goku, he was a cheeky monkey boy…”

+++

Three days after the said fire, soldiers from the joined enemy and allied forces came to their rescue because of Sasuke contacting them, and Naruto and Sasuke was taken to the orphanage after narrating to them the whole story.

*This is the second chapter! The second official chapter can you believe that!? Ahhh, yes, I can feel the SasuNaru feeling coming back, as well as the desire to defile our little ultimate blonde uke through Sasuke, Neji, Sai, and Gaara’s help. Uke, uke, uke, uke! I love saying that word!!!! Don’t hate me for massacring the boys’ friends, hey after all in Yaoi world, women are just mere ornaments, and hey it’s a war, some people are supposed to die because of it, I’m not sure if I’ll make this a tragedy or a happy ending though, you know me, I like to make people cry, I get off on it, ehe, told you I’m sadistic and masochistic. Ehe. Please review and encourage me with your beautiful flowery but sincere words.

Ah! Also, almost forgot, I’m looking for someone who could write smut for this fic, since I’m too lazy to do it, and I’m not that good at it. If you’re reading this now, I’m available on yahoo messenger from 11 am Philippine time to six p.m. ehe. We could talk about it then, ciao! yaoi_zeronoai@yahoo.com

Seme rule book : 3. Never underestimate the blessing of having hands, it can prevent you from getting prostate cancer, prevent your ukes from avoiding you outright just seeing your shadow and avoid frequent visits to the infirmary and head’s office. What’s more important is, it’s safe and cheap in ways more than one. (The economy is in recession today, condoms and lubes don’t fall on trees you know.) –right on the money- chaching!