The Sound of Dreams

AN: Good Morning, all! Here we are with another Tuesday morning! I hope you all enjoy this! There were supposed to be other scenes in this but things kept writing themselves and I never got around to it. *starts to look at her “won’t be 70 chapters” statement suspiciously*

Look forward to some smutty goodness next week! Probably last smut scene in the story so I will try to make sure it is extra special!!


Chapter 66


Tsunade looked down at the slumbering form of Sasuke wondering if she could get away with murdering one of her own shinobi.

The usually hard, grim features were relaxed to give the illusion of a side to Sasuke that had probably been killed off on the same night that Itachi had slain his family. He looked peaceful, having been put into a sleep deep enough the previous night by the Hokage that he hadn’t dreamed. He almost looked more beautiful than handsome…

…underneath all of the ink on his face.

Glasses were inked in around his eyes, a black mustache graced his upper lip and of course a matching goatee decorated his chin. His blankets looked ruffled as if he had either tossed and turned in his sleep, which was impossible with how out of it he had been, or there were more surprises awaiting Tsunade’s perusal.

She half-seriously thought about ending Sai’s life.

Sasuke, apparently able to feel holes being burnt into him even in the depths of his slumber, groggily opened his blue eyes.

While Tsunade had to admit he looked breath-taking with them, she wanted them back with their original owner. While she was sure the council would be hesitant about giving it back to a traitor, she was also sure that they would move heaven and hell to get it away from the Kyuubi and Naruto.

Not that she planned on giving them the complete details of what was going on. She was the Hokage and all they needed to know was that she was taking care of the situation. All they needed to know was the end results; they didn’t need to know how they came about in this instance.

Sasuke tried to roll onto his back but found that he couldn’t since he was propped up on his side, keeping the weight off of the wound on his shoulder blade.

A giggle drew both of their attentions toward the door where Sakura was respectfully awaiting instructions. Tsunade was proud of her student and could think of no other, aside from Shizune perhaps, that she would want at her side for the operation. And Shizune had to fill in for her so that people didn’t come looking for her.

“I think Sai was a little bored last night,” Sakura said, laughter still tingeing her voice.

She quickly went to grab a washcloth to clean off the doodles from her former teammate’s face. Unfortunately, the ink had dyed into this skin and, even with washing it, left dark smudged marks on his face.


“Where’s Naruto?” were the first words out of Sasuke’s mouth as she scrubbed at his face. He shot her an irritated look as she pressed a little harder, trying to get the black off.

“He is resting in another room right now,” Tsunade said neutrally. “We are going to switch your eyes back and work on your wing. After that I have to talk to the council to see what I can do to keep you both alive.”

Sakura’s ministrations stalled for a moment before she tried to resume. Sasuke brushed her off to glare up at Tsunade.

“I won’t let them kill him,” Sasuke warned darkly.

“You should be more worried about your own hide,” she advised as she began to lift the side rails and toe the breaks off on his bed.

“I don’t plan on dying until after that man does,” he growled out.

“Very few plan on it actually, but it happens just the same,” she commented in the same unaffected tone. She was still unhappy with the boy, but at the same time she was reluctantly admitting that it was because of him that Naruto was in the next room and that Konoha had not been attacked.

As she started to move the bed, he shot her another frown. “I can walk.”

“Probably, but I would rather not have you moving around and irritating the wound on your back any more than necessary. Plus I need the bed in the other room anyway, so shut up and deal with it, Uchiha.”

Tsunade, followed closely by Sakura, pushed the bed toward the room that contained Naruto. There were a few technicians waiting outside with the additional equipment as well as an extra bed that would be needed for the surgery. She couldn’t take the risk of moving Naruto until she was a hundred percent sure that the demon was caged and he was in charge.

Sasuke frowned at the sealed room. “Why is he in there?” he demanded.

“Just a precaution, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura answered when Tsunade ignored his outburst. “He hasn’t been conscious since the fight. Nobody’s sure what to expect when he wakes up.”

“Naruto!” came Tsunade’s exclamation from within the room.

Sakura immediately dashed inside of the room as Sasuke, clad only in his bandages and a pair of loose grey pajama bottoms shoved his covers aside and followed closely behind.

The bathing area in the room was in shambles, as if a small tornado had touched down long enough to rip everything to shreds before moving off.

There were pieces of ceramic and cloth everywhere in the small area and water was shooting out from where the commode had been ripped off its bolts. Luckily, however, it was swirling down the drain in the middle of the floor. A huddled form was seen inside of the shower stall, water beading on his skin and soaking his hair and fur.

Faster than even Tsunade could move, Sasuke was in the shower area, ignoring the cutting bites of the broken tiles digging into his skin. He carefully lifted his friend out of the debris and carried him into the main part of the room. He vaguely heard Tsunade telling Sakura to get the beds into the room as he knelt down next to the futon.

Tsunade was there then, helping to ease Naruto onto the flat mattress. Green glowing hands moved quickly and efficiently over his body, trying to ascertain if any damage had been done. She felt guilty that she had assumed the boy would remain unconscious. The destruction could have been done by either him or the demon and they had no way of knowing.

She couldn’t picture Naruto being that violent however and feared the worst.

“He seems to be okay. Any wounds he might have taken are long since healed,” she stated out loud, trying to keep the concern out of her voice but failing.

Once the beds arrived, the Hokage easily lifted Naruto’s naked form up to one, throwing a sheet over him to preserve his dignity. That and to stop the stare that Sakura had unprofessionally let slip down below her teammate’s waist.

Sakura wondered faintly if she had perhaps been chasing the wrong teammate.

**************************
Naruto leaned back against the bars of the cage, sitting in the water that swirled and sloshed around his naked hips. He had this itching urge in the back of his mind to stand up and shake out his tails, but he brushed it aside as unimportant. Not much was important to him right now other than the fact that his most precious person was gone.

All he had wanted to do when he had come back here was crawl into the cage; find a nice warm spot against a furry side and sleep. Sleep until the pain that was eating his insides went away.

However, something inside of him kept him from taking those last few steps. Something inside of him insisted he was being weak; that while he was within his rights to mourn, he just couldn’t give up.

So he sat, wishing with all his heart that he was back in Sound in their lair with Sasuke sleeping beside him. He wished he could just open his eyes from this nightmare and look at those slumbering features which always gave him butterflies and made his chest tighten and his breath catch.

He knew he would have to wake up soon. He would face his losses, acknowledge the fact that he would never love someone that deeply ever again and he would try to survive day by day.

Even if he didn’t want to.

He had a new son to raise that needed him the way he had needed someone when he was younger and never had. He had a village to dedicate his life to for there would be room for no other in his heart. But also… also he had someone that he had to kill. And all he had to do was wait for him to show up. He would not let Sasuke’s vengeance go unfulfilled nor would he let go of the promise that he had made his best friend and lover.

For now, though, he just wanted to sink himself into the memories of his beloved and lose himself there for a little while.

He wanted to remember that velvety voice talking to him, calling him an idiot and whispering his name passionately. He wanted to touch hard muscle and smooth skin once more; wanted to taste his mouth, his body, his essence.

Gods, he could almost smell him right now.

The scent teased his nose, stirring fond memories of nuzzling into his neck, his hair. The aroma made him feel warmth and love but at the same time it was breaking him apart.

The scent became stronger.

Frowning, Naruto lifted his head up from the bars wondering if he had already lost whatever little bit of sanity he had left. He hesitated before slowly turning his senses outward.

He could hear voices, someone talking about him and then he heard something that made his eyes widen in disbelief and the beginnings of wild hope.

“He’s fine for now, Sasuke. Get up on the other bed so we can get started.”

‘Sasuke!’

Naruto practically threw himself into his conscious mind.

******************
Tsunade had just ordered Sasuke into the other bed so that they could start bringing in the equipment when Sharingan red eyes suddenly snapped open. There was an explosion of movement as Naruto’s body went from prone to up and across the distance between him and Sasuke in less time than it took to blink.

Not even bothering to voice his concern, his delight, his confusion; Naruto grabbed the other teen who had been in the process of climbing up on the other bed and glued their lips together.

Sasuke didn’t hesitate to open his mouth under the almost desperate kiss as he entangled his fingers into the reddish-streaked blonde hair. Strong arms wrapped around his bare waist, pulling him harshly against the hard, nude body of his lover. He could feel the trembles, the quivering of muscles as Naruto did his best to forcibly mesh them together into one being.

He didn’t try to talk around the tongue, rougher than what he remembered but not unpleasantly so, shoved deep into his mouth. He didn’t try to form words as his lips were bruised and bitten frantically. All he could do was hold on and give everything that Naruto needed, demanded from him and give it gladly.

As Naruto boldly reached down and grabbed a firm buttock in his hand to press them even closer, a throat cleared noisily.

When Naruto pulled back slightly to lean his forehead against Sasuke’s, the Uchiha was surprised to see tear tracks down the scarred cheeks. “Naruto?” he asked softly.

“When I saw these,” the other teen said shakily while lifting a hand to the red eyes, “I was afraid he had killed you. I was afraid I had lost you.”

“Idiot,” Sasuke said fondly, “I’m right here and no one can change that.”

Naruto knew that such a statement was foolhardy, that circumstances in their world could change on a whim, but he needed to hear it anyway, needed the comfort that the words brought.

He gently cupped the back of Sasuke’s head and pressed their lips together once more with less hunger perhaps but with more tenderness. While the shape of the muzzle was odd, it didn’t really hinder them. That slightly textured tongue gently parted his lips and slid slowly, sensuously against Sasuke’s. Sasuke clutched onto Naruto’s shoulders, feeling the heat of the other man’s skin and he felt himself melting into the sensations.

Tsunade didn’t think her eyebrow could climb any higher into her hairline. Well, that certainly threw one hell of a twist on everything. It was unexpected and yet not at the same time. She was not surprised considering Naruto’s past obsession with the Uchiha; she was surprised to see his regard returned however.

She scowled slightly. She had known that she would have to put forth some effort to keep Sasuke from being sentenced to death for Naruto’s sake. Now that she knew the nature of his feelings for the little misguided traitor, she realized that she would do everything in her power to see her favorite brat happy.

She didn’t see the attraction personally. Sure Uchiha was pretty to look at, but he was rash, stubborn, cold (although she had to admit he didn’t look it at the moment), arrogant and a general pain in the ass. But with the way that their faces were glued together, she wasn’t going to be callous enough to try to foist one of them onto Sakura.

Speaking of the girl, Tsunade glanced over to see a glazed look in Sakura’s green eyes as well as a bit of drool sliding out of her mouth. She figured she better stop things from progressing too much further considering that one of Naruto’s hands had once more slid down to Sasuke’s ass.

“Okay, that’s enough, brats. We have things to do and I don’t have all day to do it in,” she interrupted gruffly.

Sakura jerked out of her daze, her face flaming red as she realized what she had been watching and in front of whom.

Sasuke cleared his throat and tried to put his stoic mask back on, but his eyes were locked onto Naruto’s and he couldn’t help the warm look in them.

Naruto lifted a hand and gently brushed Sasuke’s hair back slightly, revealing the blue eyes. “Weird,” he murmured, still not moving away from his tight embrace.

Sasuke nodded once in acknowledgement of the statement. “So, is everyone back where they are supposed to be?” he asked, knowing that the question was on everyone’s mind in the room.

“Yeah,” Naruto assured him. “Just me and it in here now and it’s behind the seal again.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Tsunade relax slightly. “Where’s Hiroki?”

Sasuke looked over to Tsunade for an answer.

“He’s just down the hall,” she volunteered. “He had been injured but he’s fine now.”

“So what’s been going on?” Naruto asked, nuzzling lightly against Sasuke’s cheek, trying to reassure himself that his lover was really there before him.

“Quite a bit,” she replied. “But let’s get this surgery done and then we can talk. We need to reattach Sasuke’s wing and then switch your eyes back where they belong. Then you can give me a nice, long report.”

Naruto winced slightly at the last part, but brushed it aside to lean back enough to look at Sasuke. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Sasuke assured him. The truth was that his back hurt like hell and the tight grip on his body didn’t help, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to mention it now that the other man was within his arms.

Naruto nodded and gave him a gentle brush of his lips before reluctantly pulling away. He turned and oddly enough didn’t act embarrassed about his nudity nor his semi-hard organ lightly bouncing as he took the few steps over to the bed. He hopped up and then pulled one of his tails across his lap which he then started petting.

Sasuke couldn’t help but smirk lightly though he was unsure if the usuratonkachi was doing it to calm his nerves or because of a new nervous habit. He climbed back into his own bed and obediently turned on his stomach so that Tsunade could reach his wound.

“Okay, Sasuke, I’m going to need to you activate your seal. Can I trust you not to do anything stupid?” Tsunade asked.

“Hn,” he replied, insulted at the way she was treating him like a wayward child. He locked eyes with Naruto and let the power flow over him.

Watching the physical changes that he had seen before, Naruto smirked in amusement at the astonished looks on both women’s faces. Tsunade quickly regained control of her expression however and addressed the boy calmly.

“I’m going to give you a local anesthetic but it won’t completely block the pain. I need you conscious for this so that you can maintain the power,” she warned him.

“Just get it done with,” he said, his almost effeminate, purplish lips drawing Naruto’s attention.

His vision seemed to become rapt with staring at the other boy, lovingly picking out details and trying to categorize them all. He could see every flaw, every piece of perfection and adored both equally. He never wanted the other out of his sight again if he could help it. He never wanted to feel again like his world was nothing more than a bleak landscape without Sasuke there.

Their eyes found each other again, both wanting nothing more than to reach out to the other.

**********************
Sakura assisted as Tsunade competently reattached the wing to the quiet teen on the bed. Naruto watched silently, knowing not to distract either of them from their work.

She stayed attentive and was ready with anything that her mentor needed, but in the back of her mind she couldn’t shake the image of her two teammates in their embrace. It had been passionate and, she reluctantly admitted, loving. It had affected her in embarrassing ways. But she now had to face the fact of why Sasuke would never be hers.

She had always known that he had never encouraged any affection from anyone, but she had always figured that he was so riveted on his training that he had no time or thought for those types of relationships. Also, naturally, his obsession with killing his brother and the extremes to which he had gone to try to accomplish his goal had definitely chilled a lot of the ardor that she had held for him.

Seeing him again had caused old feeling to resurface, albeit not as strongly as before, and she couldn’t help but think perhaps something could have come from it. However, after seeing the devouring kisses shared between the two boys, she realized that they cared deeply for each other and she wasn’t going to try to destroy something that seemed to be so profound just for her own selfish desires.

She couldn’t help but wonder how others would handle the relationship that neither young man seemed to be concerned about keeping discreet. Not everyone would welcome them with open arms; both as two men as well as the last of a strong bloodline limit and as the holder of the Kyuubi.

She couldn’t help but feel a little envious. Theirs was the kind of relationship that she wanted for herself. She wanted to be able to have someone in her life that was devoted to her and would move mountains to be with her.

She paused when she realized that Rock Lee had done just that until she had broken up with him. She felt so shallow now. His enthusiasm had embarrassed her as had his unique quirks and she had let that overshadow the fact that he had been willing to devote his life to making her every whim a reality.

She was so stupid.

She admired his drive and determination. She admired the fact that he let nothing, no one’s expectations or derision to stand in the way of a goal. He was romantic, he was gentle and he was strong both in body and spirit.

Had she still been holding out hope for Sasuke? Had she been so petty that she would allow other’s opinions sway her?

“Keep your mind on your work, Sakura,” Tsunade’s voice reprimanded her.

Flushing slightly, she mumbled an apology and focused herself upon her task.

*********************
After blocking the Kyuubi’s power temporarily so that an incision could be made without promptly healing, Tsunade had carefully placed needles into Naruto’s neck to render the boy unconscious. Anesthetics didn’t work well on him and this was a more effective, more natural means of operating on the teen.

She had already removed the blue eyes from Sasuke after she had reattached his wing, anesthetizing him for the procedure. She wanted to put his eyes in last since they would be the trickier of the two sets. There were more optical nerves within the Uchiha’s skull, enabling him to use his ability to its fullest potential and it would require a lot more time to make sure everything was reconnected appropriately.

Working quickly, she removed the red eyes from Naruto, watching as they faded to black with the lack of chakra being diverted to them. She carefully reinserted those beautiful blue orbs, making sure everything was perfect before removing the seal over Kyuubi’s chakra but leaving the needles in place. She didn’t need an anxious boyfriend distracting her from her work. As soon as the seal was undone, the red flared over the boy’s body and the miniature incisions immediately began to start knitting closed.

Moving to Sasuke, she began the exacting process of transplanting his eyes back in full working order. Kakashi had informed her of the development of the Mangekyou and she was concerned how it would affect him. She didn’t know all of the particulars of the Uchiha clan naturally, and could only hope that things would work out well.

Hours later, she finally stepped back from the table. She was worn out, her chakra almost exhausted and only wanted to go home and crawl into bed with a bottle of sake.

She was just about ready to call it a night and do just that when the dark-haired boy on the bed began convulsing.


TBC