Jinbutsu Hanasu no Jutsu

Naruto sat on the couch of the darkened Uchiha living room with his head in his hands.



[i]Why is everything so fucked up? That stupid bastard.[/i]



He squinted his eyes closed in stress. Light from the moon tiptoed in through the windows as stealthily as the home's owner. It silhouetted the branches from a tree outside into craggy, threatening fingers of shadow that stretched across the hard wood floor and ended inches from the blond nin's feet.



[i]Who am I kidding? Everything having to do with him is always fucked up. And he won’t talk to me about it. The Avenger doesn’t want to go back to normal. Saki doesn’t either. Fuck! The only one of them that makes any sense is Sasuke-chan ‘cause he said…[/i]



Naruto’s eyes flew open in realization. He leapt up and ran out the front door. The moon shone down unfettered onto the courtyard just beyond the wooden patio of the house. The trees leaned to one side in the wind, and their dark leaves rustled on the branches. The Avenger was nowhere in sight. Naruto put his palms together and let his senses drift out in search of the familiar feeling of Sasuke’s chakra. There was Sasuke sleeping peacefully in his room. There was Sasuke pacing nervously in Saki’s opulent bedroom. There was Sasuke in the private Uchiha training grounds, his chakra spiking in anger and frustration. Naruto turned and marched resolutely in that direction. He couldn’t just let this pass. It wasn’t like all the times before when he had slipped up and spoken of Sasuke around Saki, or vice versa. He didn’t have to tiptoe around the existence of Sasuke’s two personalities in fear of upsetting him. This time they really were separate. For the first time he could see their hatred for each other first hand. Sasuke was, without a doubt, Naruto's most precious person. Because of this, he had to reconcile them. Should the jutsu be lifted before he did, he knew he would probably never have another chance.



Naruto found Sasuke training in the small grounds under the moonlight. His pale skin lit up ethereally as he beat into a pole with vicious punches and kicks that caused splinters to fly off in every direction. Sasuke didn’t look at the blond though Naruto knew he could tell he was there. He had not suppressed his chakra at all, and he could feel it moving out from him in heavy, invisible waves. Naruto’s eyes narrowed in anger at being ignored.



“Hey, bastard,” he called. Sasuke responded by punching the pole even harder, breaking it in two. The top end fell over with a loud thunk.



“Hey, teme, I’m talking to you!” Sasuke turned, keeping his back to Naruto, and began pummeling a different pole. Naruto grit his teeth in anger and clenched his fists at his sides. He moved slowly around to Sasuke’s left. Chips of wood and droplets of Sasuke's sweat flew out at him, sticking to his clothes and hair.



“Damn it, Sasuke,” he hissed, reaching out with unmatched speed to catch a kick just before it landed. Sasuke easily freed himself from the blond’s grasp, flipped out of his reach, and finally looked over at him with swirling red eyes.



“What the fuck do you want?" he sneered, "Aren’t you busy with that whore?”



“What the hell is your problem, Sasuke? Why are you acting like this?” Naruto demanded. Sasuke snorted at him and crossed his arms. He narrowed his red eyes and wrinkled his nose in disgust.



“You only fuck her because you’re a disgusting pervert. You get off on guys in skirts. How many other fags have you done it to while they were dressed like women? Or is it that you can’t get a woman? You have to pretend that that thing in there is a girl because a monster like you can’t do any better, huh, dobe? No real woman will let you touch them.” His words flew at Naruto like carefully sharpened senbon, and the blond had to close his eyes and breathe deeply to calm his anger.



"As if I didn't know it was you, Sasuke.” he said in a surprisingly controlled voice. “Do you really think I'm that stupid? You might have been able to pretend, but I never did. It’s always been you, Sasuke.”



“Shut up,” the Avenger hissed, his glare darkening, “It was never me.” Naruto felt like throwing up his hands in frustration. Why was this so difficult?



“It was you. Maybe not this side of you, but it was you." The blond strands of his hair seemed to droop under the weight of his emotions. "And, I don’t care about that anyway, teme. I don’t know the other sides of you like I know the Avenger.” Sasuke snarled at his choice of address.



“You think you know me?” Sasuke whispered, his voice holding a dangerous edge.



“I do,” Naruto insisted. He stamped his foot on the dry ground. Dirt puffed up in a small red brown cloud. “Saki has me and the villagers who accept her. Sasuke-chan had his family, who loved and supported him. It was you who shouldered the pain of being alone. You are so important. You’re the biggest part of Sasuke. You’re the part that makes Sasuke such an amazing ninja. I look up to you. You’re the one that drew me into this friendship in the first place because you understand loneliness like I do. But you’re only a part of Sasuke. We have to work together to make you whole again.” Naruto started when Sasuke spit in his face.



“I didn't draw you into anything. As I recall, you forced yourself on me. And I won’t go back to being a part of that thing. That slut is not a part of me.” Naruto slowly wiped the saliva from his face and tried hard to hold his emotions in check. [i]He’s just trying to start a fight with you. He knows that you’ll shut up if you fight.[/i]



“Sasuke is Sasuke, right?” he tried. Momentarily, there was a flash of recognition on Sasuke’s face. Naruto wondered if he was remembering his mother saying those words. He imagined her pale face looking like Sasuke's, smiling down at him, reassuring him that he was special, perfect, just the way he was. Naruto hoped that Sasuke was imagining the same thing. Then the Avenger's gaze became steely.



“Things are easier this way,” he replied, uncrossing his arms and falling into a taijutsu opening stance, “Without them holding me back, I can focus on my revenge.” Naruto lowered himself into an opening stance as well.



“And you call me an idiot. What good is life focused on revenge? Your clan is gone Sasuke. They wouldn’t want you to waste your life this way.” Sasuke's eyes burned with hatred.



“You know nothing about what my clan would have wanted,” he bellowed. He shot forward at almost the same instant as Naruto. There was a spark as their kunai clashed together. Each pushed at the other. The metal between them screeched in protest of their temporary stalemate. Naruto decided not to let their fight stop him from trying to talk some sense into the Avenger.



“What about your friends, Sasuke? What about me?” Sasuke sneered at him. He smashed a kick into Naruto's left side. He caught it just in time, using the momentum to flip to the right.



“You?” Sasuke hissed, “Usurakontachi, I don't give a shit about you." Hurt flashed momentarily in the blond's eyes before they settled back into a look of determination.



"Yes, you do." Naruto responded seriously with a nod to reassure himself.



"You don’t understand anything, dobe," Sasuke growled.



"I think you're just pissed because I know everything about you." Sasuke launched a punch at the blond’s face, and he dodged it fluidly. Quickly, they fell into their regular fighting pattern, except there was so much more anger. The Avenger was lashing out viciously.



"I get you, okay. I really do,” Naruto insisted as he dodged another flurry of kicks and punches, “This part of you I really get. I won't pretend to understand everything about you, but this anger, this I get."



"Shut up," he snapped back, eyes narrowing even further. He spun to the right with a fist aimed for Naruto’s face. It was blocked by the back of the blond’s hand, and he had to do a flip to avoid the retaliating kick coming at him. He punched again, undeterred.



"You're mad that we're here and not going after Itachi, right?” Naruto persisted even as the Avenger’s attacks increased in speed and power, “How can you stay here in this village with me regularly sticking my dick up your ass, with you begging for it, while he's still out there?"



"Shut up!" Sasuke roared. He whipped around a kick aimed at Naruto’s side. Naruto dodged, then returned a kick of his own.



"While your family lies in the ground unavenged?” he continued, ignoring Sasuke’s comments, “What are you if not the Avenger, right?"



"It's not my ass you're doing it to. It's that thing in there. That abomination!" Sasuke was enraged, his chakra sparking with fury.



"It's you Sasuke. It's always been you. I know you were able to feel it, to feel me kissing you, touching you. Is it that horrifying that I have seen you at your weakest? Standing on my doorstep in a corset and bitch boots practically begging for me to take you back?" Naruto jumped backward quickly, and three kunai thunked into the ground he had just vacated.



"I hate you!” Sasuke screamed. They began to circle each other.



"You've said that before. I didn't shun you though, did I? I didn't slam the door in your face even though I had every right to since you punched a hole through my fucking chest! I took you back with open arms. And when you changed out of those clothes and came before me as Sasuke again, I still took you back. We sparred and argued and traded insults like you never left in the first place, like you never tried to kill me at all. I've let you pretend to be two different people for ten fucking years just to keep you happy."



"I'm not happy," he hissed as they continued to move around each other.



"I guess you're right, you goddamn bastard. I am an idiot dead-last moron. How could a person with a brain in their fucking skull possibly want to be with a head case like you?"



"I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke screamed, his face screwing up with hatred. The ground cracked beneath his feet as his chakra spiked.



"Heh. You said that before too." Their fight intensified, each of them flying at each other faster than the average human could keep track of. All movement ceased, however, when the sound of a thousand screaming birds filled the air. Naruto stood completely still and stared at the electric blue chakra around Sasuke’s hand.



"Really?” he asked in a defeated voice, “After all this? You'd use that against me again?" They stood across from each other mutely. Suddenly, they both turned at the sound of a small cry over the din of the Sasuke’s Chidori. Sasuke-chan was rushing toward them. He ran straight up to the Avenger and threw his small arms around the larger man’s waist with little regard for the deadly jutsu sparking just next to him.



"No," he whispered fervently as the sparks singed the ends of his hair. "That's Naruto. You can’t. Not again. It’s Naruto.” He whispered those words over and over. “It’s Naruto. You can’t. It’s Naruto.” The blond’s eyes widened as he watched the Chidori deactivate. The wind had died down during their fight. The local fauna had fled from the chakra infested training grounds. There were no sounds except for Sasuke-chan crying. The Avenger fell ungracefully to his knees and buried his face in the small boy’s chest. "That's Naruto," he repeated once again. The Avenger nodded and wrapped his arms around his smaller self.



Naruto was stunned. His mouth hung open lightly at the display. Glancing to his left, he noticed for the first time that Saki was standing a few feet away. Her nightgown hung around her like a stagnant weight buried beneath a heavy black housecoat. The sleeves hung low at her elbows as both her hands were covering her mouth, and her slim frame was shaking. Naruto wondered when she had arrived. Judging by her trembling, she had at least seen the Chidori and felt the Avenger’s killing intent. His attention snapped back to the pair in front of him as the Avenger slowly stood. He patted Sasuke-chan’s head gently.



"I'm okay now," he assured the young boy before turning and heading toward the house. He didn’t look once at Naruto, but glared hatefully at Saki as he passed her. Sasuke-chan reached out and grabbed one of Naruto’s calloused hands.



“I’m sorry about that,” he whispered, “Sometimes he just gets so mad that he forgets all the important things.” The blond felt his cheeks heat up slightly at the inference.



“It’s alright. Let’s just go back to bed, okay?” Naruto’s anger had slipped away, and exhaustion had crept up on him. The young boy nodded enthusiastically at the idea, and he grabbed the blond’s hand. He rushed forward and grabbed Saki’s hand as well.



"It's okay to be afraid,” Naruto heard him say softly to her as they walked toward the house, “He's afraid of you too."