Memories of the Future

A/N: midterms are coming up, so i really have no idea when, what, and how often i can update. but i will certainly try not to make it too long.

to respond to a few questions: ayame doesn't know about kyuubi, neji is not sasuke's lover (he's an ANBU captain, either kei's or touya's - not sure, so that's why he was in the picture; that was part of the 'official feel' to the pic), and naruto is very aware that he's acting naruto-like. poor dobe...

thank you for all the reviews! i was really afraid no one would be interested in a storyline like this, but that fear was apparently unfounded. *bows gratefully*

enjoy this new chapter!!

words - flashback
same tags apply


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Memories of the Future: Chapter 4 - Sasuke
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“What is this necklace for, dobe?”

“Ah, heh, can you keep a secret, teme?”

“Tch, try me.”

“This necklace is from Tsunade-baa-chan, which means that she’s chosen me to be her successor when she retires from being Hokage.”

“She chose you to be Rokudaime?”

“Well, she lost a bet…”

“You bet the title of Rokudaime?”

“Maybe… Anyway, the elders would never let me be Hokage, but I won’t put it past Tsunade to fight for me.”

“Dobe…”

“You know, she told me that the elders said they’d rather have you as Hokage than me.”

“But I-”

“And, you know what? If I couldn’t be Hokage, I’d want you to be Hokage, too.”

“Naruto-”

“Sasuke, if anything ever happens to me, I want you to have this necklace…”

>*<

Pale indigo eyes opened slowly to regard an off-white ceiling – more yellow, really – and a tuft of silver hair. Naruto blinked his eyes, and a worried grey eye replaced the tuft of hair.

“Yuki-chan, if you keep fainting like this, we might think something is very wrong with you.”

“I’m fine, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto said as he pushed himself up from what he now realized was a couch in the Hokage’s office – Sasuke’s office. Naruto’s breath caught again, and Kakashi had to catch him before he fell back to the couch.

“I doubt that,” came a voice from behind Kakashi. Naruto’s heart began to beat rapidly, stealing his already scarce breath, and he turned his head to regard the speaker. An elegant black brow was arched in concern and a bit of amusement, the look so very familiar to Naruto.

Sasuke sat behind the large desk, resting against the chair back with arms crossed before him. The traditional Hokage robes weren’t present; instead Naruto took in a skin-tight black turtleneck, the sleeves wrapping sensuously around the sleek and trim muscles of his arms down to his wrists. There was no hitai-ate gracing the pale forehead, so long black bangs fell into dark onyx eyes that stared at Naruto and Kakashi as if bored.

Naruto snapped his eyes away, afraid he’d cry without being able to explain why to the two men in the room. He slid one leg off the couch, followed by the other, and quietly stood, Kakashi hovering near in case he fell again. After smoothing out the wrinkles from his outfit, he walked before the desk and bowed low.

“I’m sorry to cause so much trouble, Hokage-sama,” he whispered. Naruto saw Kakashi relax a bit beside him, and he kept his eyebrow from arching in question.

“It was no trouble, Yuki-san. Sakura informed me of your injury yesterday, though I’m highly curious as to how such an injury occurred.” Here Naruto saw Sasuke eye Kakashi warningly. Then he recalled Sakura telling him that his sensei hadn’t been paying attention when he’d fainted.

His sensei hadn’t been paying attention…

Sakura had muttered ‘pervert’ in the hospital in reference to his sensei…

His sensei was Kakashi…

“You didn’t catch me because you were reading that damn book!” Naruto exclaimed, looking angrily in Kakashi’s direction, his index finger once again extended in accusation. A little voice in his head was telling him that the ‘injury’ hadn’t actually happened to him, but his long-standing relationship with the masked jounin wouldn’t allow the slight to be overlooked.

Kakashi’s eye was widened in shock again, but he recovered his air of nonchalance quicker this time and replied, “I would think something like falling would be above such a talented shinobi such as you.”

Naruto didn’t have an answer for that, as it so closely paralleled his old attitude about his skills and stamina. Any answer he could have come up with would have given away who he really was, for only Naruto could have said anything remotely like what he wanted to say.

“As amusing as this is, I’m ready to leave now.” Naruto turned from Kakashi to Sasuke and blushed in embarrassment as his actions finally registered in his brain. Kyuubi was going to kill him when she found out how badly he was screwing this up.

“Yuki-san?”

Naruto snapped back into focus when he heard Sasuke calling… well, his ‘name.’ Sasuke and Kakashi were looking at him strangely again, and Naruto was close to tears. Why did he keep screwing this up? He’d kept up an act for his whole damned life, and he couldn’t pretend to be someone else for the amount of time Kyuubi needed him to?

‘I really am a dobe.’

“Are you sure you’re okay to escort me home, Yuki-san?”

“Escort you…? Uh, yes, Hokage-sama, though why you’d want me to-” ‘Is this a safe question to ask? Maybe Kyuubi escorts him home on a regular basis. Should I shut up right now?’ “-escort you home when you have ANBU to do such is beyond me.”

“Tch, you say that every time, and my answer is always the same. Now, let’s go.”

Kyuubi says that every time? Then that meant that Naruto had finally done something right! A smile lit his face, and it would have stunned Sasuke at its brilliance had he been glancing up to see it. As it was, Sasuke was rolling up some scrolls on his desk to take home with him and hadn’t seen ‘Yuki’ smiling a patented Naruto smile.

Naruto started. “But didn’t you have something to discuss with Kakashi-sensei, Hokage-sama?”

“We took care of it while you were out on the couch, Yuki-chan.”

“Oh.”

“Come along, Yuki-san.”

Sasuke walked from behind his desk, and Naruto had to fight the urge to jump the man. The black pants were just as tight as the turtleneck, accentuating the man’s firm ass and powerful legs. Black boots with thick soles had replaced standard ninja sandals. If it hadn’t been for the Uchiha’s pale skin on his hands and face, the man could’ve just been a shadow come to life. Naruto kind of didn’t want anyone seeing Sasuke when he looked this good.

“Where is your cloak, Hokage-sama?”

“Hn.” Sasuke grabbed his black cloak with a small scowl on his face and waited for Naruto to walk out before him. Stifling a triumphant grin, Naruto led the way out of the office and out of the building. Kakashi wished them a good evening and strolled off in the opposite direction, to Iruka’s place, Naruto mused.

“Your hair is very interesting today, to say the least. And I see you’ve stopped wearing your beautiful kimono.”

Naruto turned to Sasuke and blushed. “Ah, yes, Hokage-sama. Ayame-san graciously bought this for me, and since the weather has been rather cold lately, I thought I would wear it to prevent illness.”

“That was a very pragmatic choice, Yuki-san.”

“Meanwhile, Hokage-sama, you were scowling when I asked the location of your cloak.”

‘This is the smartest I have ever sounded!’

Sasuke gave him a sideways glance, a small smirk on his face, and answered, “Why is it that we always seem to have this same conversation? If it’s not my cloak in the winter, it’s that I wear black in the summer.”

“I guess we’re just in a rut.” Naruto let out a soft sigh when he heard Sasuke laugh under his breath, but it was a sigh of happiness. Naruto had always been afraid that Sasuke would one day return to his stoic and cold demeanor, with or without Naruto by his side. But it seemed that even after his death, Sasuke had managed to stay happy, and Naruto suspected it was due, in large part, to their children. And speaking of…

“I haven’t seen Kei-san in quite some time.” ‘You have no idea, teme.’

“Ah, yes, he and his team returned from a mission today.”

“Then I must ask him what he wants for dinner.”

“Tch, why bother? He always wants the same thing. Ha, that’s why Ayame and Touya always strive to get to you first when you take requests for dinner.”

A giant question mark landed on Naruto’s head. “And why don’t they like… it?” He needed clues here!

Sasuke amused smirk fell from his face, and his eyes dulled with an acute sadness. “When their father died, Touya refused to ever eat ramen again. And Ayame had never gotten to experience Naruto’s passionate love of ramen and didn’t acquire a taste for it.”

Naruto stopped abruptly, a hand shooting to his chest as an acute pain clenched around his heart. His children didn’t like ramen because he’d died? Well, it seemed Kei still liked ramen.

“Are you okay, Yuki-san?”

“I’m… fine. Um, why does Kei-san love ramen so much?”

A sad smile flitted across the Uchiha’s features as he began to walk again. “He says it’s a way to be closer to his Oto-san, eating what he always ate. But I guess you wouldn’t know that, as young as you are.”

“I don’t know whether to take that as compliment or an insult, Hokage-sama.”

“How do you see it as an insult?” The slight amusement in onyx eyes belied the confusion in his deep voice.

“Well, Hokage-sama, you called me young, which I can take as a compliment, but saying I don’t know something because of that youth implies that I’m ignorant, which I can take as an insult.” Sasuke laughed under his breath again. “Besides, you know I can learn a variety of things from Kakashi-sensei.”

Sasuke turned his head to look at him then sighed. “I guess I sometimes forget that other people have memories of him, as well.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you don’t talk about him, Hokage-sama?”

A sharp glare was thrown his way. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“You horde your memories of him so that others can’t participate in remembering him?”

“You are overstepping your bounds.”

“Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but I don’t think Naruto would-”

“Don’t say his name!” Naruto stared at Sasuke in wide-eyed shock. The Uchiha took a deep breath. “Just… don’t.”

They continued on their way to the Uchiha district in silence. Naruto kept sneaking glances at the seething Uchiha, his husband, his teme, the Rokudaime Hokage. The man beside him had raised three children on his own while running an entire village, apparently only speaking of his deceased husband when in the company of his children. Naruto was so proud of Sasuke, but why did the man have such an aversion to speaking of him?

‘Teme, are you angry at me… for dying?’

~*~

As soon as they walked through the door, the children knew that Sasuke wasn’t in a good mood. And so, after quiet good evenings from them, the elder Uchiha climbed the stairs to his room.

Naruto stood in the hallway staring forlornly after the man. Then his children surrounded him, and he couldn’t think about the brooding Hokage any longer.

“What’s wrong with Oto-sama, Yuki-chan?” asked Ayame.

“I’m afraid I said something to upset him, and I deeply regret it.” ‘Kind of…’

“That doesn’t sound like you, Yuki-san,” Touya said as he glanced behind him at something.

“Yuki-chan’s home?” came an excited voice from deeper within the house. Naruto watched a brief flash of pained annoyance pass over Touya’s face before the boy regained control of his emotions. Ayame stifled a giggle, and something came hurtling at Naruto from between them.

A younger version of Sasuke, the mirror image of Touya, threw his arms around Naruto’s neck, and he had to keep them both from falling to the ground. But he wasn’t used to the boots, so he found himself falling backwards anyways. A hand splayed warmly behind his back, catching him before he could fall on his ass and be crushed by the heavy man hanging off his neck.

Naruto looked up to see Touya keeping him upright. He smiled at the boy, not quite realizing that his charming smile filtered through a female body made his own son blush.

“Kei, get off of Yuki-san now.”

“Oh, sorry! I was just so excited, I haven’t seen Yuki-chan in days!” Touya’s twin smiled sweetly at Naruto, his onyx eyes shining in mirth.

“I’m flattered, Uchiha-san. How about ramen to celebrate your safe return?”

Naruto walked past them all, hiding a smile at the two groans and one cheer of joy as he made his way to the kitchen. It was a good thing, in hindsight, that Iruka had taught him how to make homemade ramen, grudgingly advising that when he couldn’t eat Ichiraku ramen he could at least have ramen better than instant.

The Uchiha trio followed him into the kitchen to watch him work, and Touya offered to take his coat as he went about preparing the ingredients. The kitchen was soon filled with laughter and the delicious smell of ramen, and Naruto sadly thought that the only things missing were his body and an increasingly infuriating teme.


TBC


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hey, guess what? naruto needs someone to make sure he stays in yuki's character, so someone is going to find out his secret. BUT!!! you, the reviewers get to decide who! from the following list, choose who you most want in on naruto's little act.

kakashi
gaara
neji
sakura
hinata
one of his children - your choice

i want your help! so review! even if it's just to tell me that's a bad idea. but, honestly, i'm going to do it anyway.

much love!!