Like Ninja Fighters

Like Ninja Fighters


Chapter 7: End Battle

End of Senior Year, Fifth Day of Ninja Chronicles 7


"I think we're almost at the end," Naruto said in disbelief.

49 hours 33 minutes game time.

"But we don't know how it's supposed to end. There could be a lot more that we have to do," Sasuke said frowning. There was a sense of disbelief in his voice as well. Clearly he too was feeling that same tightening in his stomach. It was Sunday. All their missed schoolwork was finished. They had completed all the tedious chores that Kakashi had given them as punishment for getting suspended since Saturday morning. Now with the ending to the game near at hand, and the ending of the show itself in almost 24 hours time, there was a high sense of anticipation.

And loss.

They didn't want it to end. For years, for over ten years, it had been something in their life that they had done together. They'd played the videogames; watched the anime; read the fanfiction.

Naruto had even talked about (and Sasuke grudgingly found amusing) insane theories about what was going to happen throughout the story, and of course at the very end. While they had waited years to find out how it was going to end, in reality, neither of them wanted the story line to stop. They wanted it to keep going on with them.

"Do you want to take a break?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke looked at him a bit apprehensively. Normally that question coming from Naruto would have astounded Sasuke; Naruto asking for a break? He was always asking for just a bit more playing time. Usually Sasuke didn't mind, but Kakashi frequently had to tell them to stop playing or else he would turn off the power, and they would lose all the game time they had since they last saved (which resulted in Naruto being a bit obsessive about saving the game, just in case). But instead of being surprised, Sasuke just nodded, feeling slightly numb.

They saved the game and got up to get a drink, used the bathroom, and did other mundane things. Still, it only took a few minutes before they were both back in the living room, watching the game's "screen saver" splash scenes of various clips of past Ninja Chronicles' games. Naruto and Sasuke stared at the video clips on the screen, reminiscing about the fights from when they had played the games over the years.

Naruto couldn't help but smile when he saw Nori's character come on the screen and do a back twisting summersault; it was a video clip from the very first Ninja Chronicles' game.

"That was the move that made me want to play the game in the first place," Naruto recalled fondly.

"I remember," Sasuke murmured.

The only sound in the room was the music for all six previous Ninja Chronicles' games playing in the background as neither eighteen-year-old felt able to speak.

"This is ridiculous," Sasuke finally grunted. Naruto turned to him, looking surprised. "Yes, I'm disappointed the games will stop and the show will end, but it's not the end of the world. There are other shows we can get into and other games for us to play. Not to mention we have the box set of all the anime seasons, except of course for the last one which will come out on DVD in a couple of months, and we can play the games over and over again. We have beaten the other games at least three times a piece, and the fourth one we must have played at least a dozen times. It's no big fucking deal."

"You're right. It's just a game. Just an anime. It's not a big deal. We've played lots of other games before too. And it HAS to end! We've been waiting for years to find out what happens with Jun being the Emperor's son, not to mention what happens with Nori and his village!"

"Exactly," Sasuke said airily.

Neither moved to pick up their controllers.

"Do you think the game ending will spoil the anime ending?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"No, the last episode was under lock and key. You know there was a serious gag rule on all the animators. They were serious about that 250 million yen fine."

"Let's do this then. We've waited years for the ending, and besides, the ending to the game won't spoil anything," Naruto reasoned, even though they knew that it was the ending to the last of the Ninja Chronicles games that they would play. They both picked up their controllers and resumed the game, meanwhile both wondering the same things:

Will the ending of the game live up to my expectations?

Will the anime wrap up all the details?

Will we have to talk about this thing between us when we finish the game?

It wasn't just the end of the videogame that the two were trying to avoid.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

52 hours 37 minutes game time.

GAME COMPLETE

Neither Sasuke nor Naruto moved from in front of the TV.

"I thought you two would be cheering or something," Kakashi said, his arms crossed as he frowned down at his two adopted sons. He'd let them play the game, yet now after everything, they seemed almost depressed.

Instead of celebrating another great victory, they both just sat and stared at the ending credits as they scrolled by on the screen.

"Do you want to shower first before bed?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm going to make ramen. You can shower first," Naruto said. They both stood up and headed to their destinations.

Kakashi looked after them, not sure how to handle their behavior. He wondered if now was a bad time to ask them to finish filling out their game analysis. A part of him wondered if they seemed so let down by the ending that he almost dreaded having to do his own computer game analysis of the sister game. It seemed like the game wouldn't be as fun as he thought. It must have been horrible for them to be so depressed.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

At 1:45am, Naruto felt only slightly surprised to see that he wasn't the only one down in the kitchen unable to sleep. Sasuke sat munching on seaweed rice cakes.

Naruto pulled out some mochi from the cupboard and joined Sasuke at the table.

"What did you think of the end?" Naruto asked through a mouthful of his sticky rice. Sasuke finished chewing the crunchy rice cake before answering.

"It alluded to a lot, yet there was nothing official."

"Yeah, well, we knew we'd have to wait until tomorrow to find out the real ending for sure." There was a pause. "What did you think of that hint that the Emperor would want Jun to marry Princess Hanako?"

"Considering the fact that Jun's the Emperor's son, the rightful heir to the throne now, then it makes sense that he would be expected to marry a princess."

"But Princess Hanako's always liked Nori, even when Jun had that crush on her when they were younger. Now it’s like Princess Hanako just likes Jun better because she knows he’s the Emperor’s son. It just...I mean...and what's Nori supposed to do now? It made it sound like he was going to return to his village and leave the Imperial Court all together! Nori can't leave Jun alone!"

"I've been thinking about it, and it seems like they had so many teasers in order to make people who finished the game before watching the end of the anime wonder about what would happen, but they wouldn't know about it for sure until the actual episode. It also makes people who just play the game want to watch the final episode. It makes sense actually. With all the possibilities there's room to question what goes on in the last episode, and it leaves room for a movie."

Naruto looked at him, surprised.

"A movie?"

"They haven't made any yet."

"Do you think they will?"

"They better. That ending was horrendous if that’s how the anime really ends."

Of course, he was ignoring the fact that most animes left a lot of loopholes, not wrapping things up completely.

Sasuke threw the wrapper to his rice cake in the plastic recycling and headed off to bed. Naruto looked after him. He'd actually hoped to talk to him about something else, but he supposed it would have to wait...

- - - - - - - - - - -

After school the next day (where they'd been on their best behavior), Sasuke and Naruto returned home, both unusually high strung. Naruto showed his tension by re-organizing the various ramen flavors on the shelves he’d built in wood shop almost two years ago while Sasuke went upstairs and browsed the internet.

He’d thought about doing some basic karate moves to let his body relax but felt more inclined to put his fist through something than use it for relaxation.

The unspoken question hung heavily in both their minds. Would the show end with a Nori/Jun ending? Doubtful. It was directed at a teenage male audience – usually into girls, but sometimes too engrossed in all the other aspects of the show to really care about bothering to wrap up a tidy romance.

However, the bigger question was: what would happen if the ending really was a Nori/Jun ending?

It was stupid, really. They were not Nori and Jun. They were Sasuke and Naruto, but they had come to see themselves as their favorite characters over time. Still, it seemed to impact them in some bizarre and inane way. How would a Nori/Jun ending reflect on Sasuke and Naruto who had thought of themselves like the characters for so long?

There were hints of strong ties between the two, not to mention that there had been a scene once where the two had been drunk which had resulted in them kissing.

Of course it was meant just for comedic effect, but to the Nori/Jun fans that was like the Holy Grail episode that “proved” they were meant to be together.

"Show starts in fifteen minutes," Naruto said, coming into Sasuke's room. Sasuke's back was turned toward the door as he sat in front of his computer. Naruto came up behind him, noting that Sasuke was once again reading a Nori/Jun story. Or Jun/Nori as Naruto noticed, having learned the difference of top and bottom by who was the first before the slash. It made his face burn as he read the erotic smut Sasuke sat reading, a fan's version of how he or she would prefer the ending to Ninja Chronicles to go.

That wasn’t to say that Naruto hadn’t read his fair share of those stories; it was just weird to see Sasuke doing the same thing.

Even if it was a Nori/Jun ending (or Jun/Nori ending) Naruto knew there wouldn't be any of THAT kind of stuff in the anime. Geeze, it wasn't a porno.

"Do you have any crazy last minute theories about the ending?" Sasuke asked when Naruto didn’t leave.

Naruto hadn’t come to talk about the anime. The main reason Naruto was there was to ask Sasuke something important, not read over his shoulder. Steeling himself, Naruto asked the question that had been on his mind for some time.

"Do you like me?" Naruto finally blurted out.

"Do you like me?" Sasuke shot back without missing a beat. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"I asked you first."

"What does it matter if I like you? What does it matter if you like me? How would that work out? Like you said, we're brothers."

"Adopted brothers."

"We're both guys," Sasuke pointed out as he turned to look at him. "It would make things difficult."

Naruto didn't say anything for a moment.

"No one would have to know."

"Kakashi?"

"What's the deal?!" Naruto snapped. "You were the one that seemed to want this, and now you don't?"

"You were the one who said there wasn't anything!"

"I changed my mind!"

"Why, because we kissed?"

"Maybe."

"It was just one kiss."

"Are you saying we try it again?" There was a slight note of breathlessness to Naruto's voice as he asked.

"Okay."

It was almost exactly the same set up as their first kiss, and neither seemed any less awkward than the first time. In fact, it seemed more awkward. The problem with talking about kissing someone or asking about it made it feel more like a chore than something enjoyable. If you had to ask, you didn't know. And if you didn't know if the other person wanted to kiss you, then you could get hurt.

They had been best friends for so long that there was an overwhelming fear to mess up the deep connection they already had. Even though they both wanted more, they didn’t want something to go wrong that would cause a rift in their relationship. It would ruin them.

Sasuke stood and walked closer to Naruto as Naruto likewise moved closer to Sasuke. They leaned in close, their lips almost touching.

"Ninja Chronicles is about - "

Naruto whipped around and Sasuke moved away from Naruto.

" - to start," Kakashi finished, scratching the back of his head, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Nothing happened!" Naruto said, his face red, and Sasuke all but rolled his eyes at him. It was actually true this time, but the way he said it made it sound very guilty.

"Uh, well, I thought you might want to know the last episode is starting. I wondered what would be keeping you two from the final episode, but..." Kakashi trailed off, seemingly unsure of how to handle the situation.

"Crap! We gotta go!" Naruto said and dashed out of the room past Kakashi. Sasuke didn't meet Kakashi's gaze as he hurriedly walked away from Kakashi too.

Kakashi shook his head and walked out of the room.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The ending theme song played, and Naruto and Sasuke stared at the screen.

Ten years of watching the show. Ten years of video gaming. Three years of reading fanfiction based off the series – now at an end.

It was over.

The ending had thrown them for a loop.

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke.

"That..." Naruto began, his mouth having trouble finding the words.

"The ending..."

"That was fucking awesome."

It was like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. The ending – the ending was perfect. Well, perfect because the ending was really just the beginning.

"Stay tuned for clips of the new movie coming out this July before the start of the brand new series!" the announcer spoke.

It was perfect, because the end of the series was the beginning of a new anime. The movie, "The Rising Sun: A New Empire," would bridge the old series into the new series about how they would now have to bring and maintain peace in the newly restored Empire called "The Empire of the Sun."

"No wonder the game left so much open! They have so much left to wrap up in the new series, ‘The Risen Empire,’" Naruto said, turning to look at Sasuke. Sasuke nodded turning to look at Naruto.

Their faces were close to each other, their noses almost touching.

"Naruto," Sasuke murmured, realizing the series wasn't the only thing that needed to be wrapped up.

"Sasuke," Naruto murmured back.

It was if they were unable to find words to talk about what they needed to.

"We should, uh, go to bed," Naruto said, not moving.

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, not moving either. They stared at each other for a few more moments, neither speaking. Finally, neither moved forward to gap the distance between them, so they turned their heads and headed upstairs.

They both lied awake that night, their minds not full of the ending of The Ninja Chronicles series and the promising start of The Risen Empire, but of the ending of their brotherly relationship, and the uncertain start of whatever this new thing between them was.

Next Chapter: A New Beginning

Just fyi, there may not be a chapter next weekend. Keep your fingers crossed that that’s not the case. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! ~ Jelp