(( Dreams of the Heart ))

-----------------Chapter 1--------------------
"N-No S-Sa...suke!" stuttered the blonde, he was sprawled over a queen size bed, with his arms above his head, in a position of innocent surrender. He tried to pull away as his lover advanced forward, ready to attack the blonde's still buttoned pants, his shirt already thrown onto the floor, alone and rejected. The Uchiha continued his assault on his fair-haired companion, slowly dragging kisses from his neck, down to his chest. The sharingan user took a detour, beginning to suck softly on the blonde’s erect nipple.
The blonde immediately froze as black onyx eyes stared seductively at his shadowed face. It was so hard to resist them. So hard.
“N-No Sasuke. P-Please stop” the blonde called out, the words faltering from the ecstasy that was entering his body.
"What is it dobe? You don't want me?" replied the Uchiha.
The blonde’s heart feeling stabbed by those last words. The sharingan user closed his black onyx eyes and stalled his advancement on the blonde, reposing himself on the opposite side of the bed, facing away from his lover.
'Not again' thought Sasuke.
This was the third night in a row that Naruto had rejected his forceful suggestion on love making. It was beginning to bug him. He was a man, and it was only natural that he wanted to be sexually active with his lover, this was getting ridiculous! Sasuke had been holding off from the sexual activity and if he didn't release it soon he was going to go nuts!
The blonde stared at his lover's naked back, wondering what he was thinking about; questioning whether he had deterred his mood for now, even the thought of whether he had made Sasuke mad. The blonde's eyes softened when he felt somehow guilty for putting Sasuke in this mood.
It's just that...Naruto felt he wasn't ready. Sure they had done love making in the past, but lately...Naruto felt like Sasuke was expecting something from him. That once the heat of the moment was over, he was unsatisfied with Naruto’s performance and the end result. Eventually making the blonde want to stop everything before he saw the disappointment he made on the Uchiha’s face. It was a burden that he was carrying alone.
The blonde brought his legs to his chest, sending warmth from his torso to his legs. Naruto sat silently on the bed, while a light breeze came from the near by open window. Naruto gazed over to the night sky, his blue eyes shimmering. It was a full moon tonight. The moon basking in a blue glow, filling his heart with mystery and wonder. Nothing in the darkness is ever beautiful, but upon gazing at the moon, through the gloom of the night, the blonde could truly say,
“It’s Beautiful” unknowingly of the blonde, the words slipped out of his mouth, cascading down like dominos until reaching their final destination; Sasuke’s ears, a heavy atmosphere was lingering in the air. Sasuke stood up off the bed, causing the blonde to come out of his daze,
“I’ll be in the shower” was his curt reply.
The blonde stared blankly as Sasuke walked across the bedroom and into the bathroom, his eyes softening. The sound of the taps turning and then followed by a gush of water, Sasuke began to carefully remove his remaining clothes, tossing them onto the tiled floor. Stepping into the shower, he felt a rush of heat emanate from the water beating against his body. This was the one place where he could be alone and reflect, allowing him to be himself and contemplate everything in his life. He stood there, his eyes slowly shutting as he once again let his trail of thoughts run. His brother. His clan. Naruto.
“My dream…” he whispered; as the water flowed through his black hair, and down his body. Images of his parent’s death flashed before him, and his brother’s smirk, quickly snapping him out of his reflection, in his eyes tears beginning to form,
“I wasn’t even strong enough…to kill him, my hate wasn’t strong enough…and now…my dream has gone to trash!” Sasuke’s chakra flowing to his fist, just as it collided with the tiled wall beside him. Extracting blood from his fist as the titles concaved inwards. He looked at his hand, watching as the blood dripped downwards mixing with the running water, moving his hand towards his chest, placing it upon his heart,
“Stupid heart…” he muttered.
Sasuke continued on with his shower, not realizing that his lover outside began to grow with concern from the smashing sound he had heard.
Naruto continued to sit on the bed, already well aware of what had occurred in the bathroom, he felt tears starting to form, and began a battle to keep them inside himself.
“A ninja does not cry…” he said it to himself, repeating it over and over in a soft voice, until he knew that those tears would not show. Saying them again and again trying to make those words real to him. A gentle breeze entered the bedroom along with it a dozen or so cherry blossoms, each dancing together as the breeze spun them around like a man would to a woman while dancing, the moon shining down upon each making them glisten like stars.
Sasuke strolled out of the bathroom and entered the bedroom, his gaze dropped to Naruto on the bed, who was watching those cherry blossoms. He made his way to the opposite side of the bedroom, harshly breaking through the swirling petals, each falling onto the wooden floor.
He slid into the bed and laid facing away from Naruto, the blond looked at the back of the Uchiha’s head, waiting for some sort of reply, except…he got none. Distress filled Naruto face, he reached his hand out and placed it upon his lovers arm, only to have it harshly nudged off, without a second thought,
“Good NIGHT Naruto” Sasuke said to the blond, his voice deep and stern with an emphasis on the ‘night’ when he said it.
The blond recoiled his hand and sunk into the bed, his blue eyes slowly shutting as a single tear slipped down his cheek and onto his pillow, whispering softly,
“I’m sorry…” just before rolling over and silently falling into the darkness of his dreams.
Naruto awoke the next morning with a startle, only to find himself alone in his cold bedroom, wishing that the night before had only been a dream, his wish being shattered as he saw the note on Sasuke’s pillow, picking it up the blond read it out loud to himself,
“I have a mission today and it’s gonna take all day, so don’t wait up for me dobe. Sasuke” Naruto stared at the note, his eyebrows furrowing.
Sasuke must be really mad, he always puts ‘love Sasuke’ at the ends of notes when he leaves them for me…the blonde’s train of thought was then disrupted by his growling stomach.
“Okay Okay. I get the point. Hmm I feel like having ramen for breakfast!” the blonde exclaimed, jumping out of bed and down the stairs into the large kitchen.
It had been almost 2 years since Naruto had married Sasuke and moved in with him into the mansion he inherited from his parents, and still the blonde couldn’t get used to the freedom and space he had in the house. In his old apartment you could barely move, since the place was so crowded, even with only the basic of furniture, all in the one room which included what you could call a kitchen.
“I was only 17 when I had realized my love for you, I wasn’t even considered an adult yet…I was still very young. After two years of dating and watching the seasons pass by together, you asked me to marry you, even if it wouldn’t be legal or legitimate, you wanted to marry me because it was me. Its now almost two years later, I’m 21 and I consider myself an adult, I’m still not Hokage yet, but I’m getting there.” Naruto had once again been talking to himself; he gently poured the ramen from the package and into the boiling water being careful not to get splashed by the hot water. He stirred the water with two chopsticks, gently parting the noodles as they swam in the water.
2 minutes later they were done, and he was quickly wolfing them down, they tasted great as usual, he was an expert at cooking ramen. The blonde slurped up the last remains of the ramen in his bowl only to wonder what next he could do today, his eyes wandering around looking for something to do, suddenly a loud knock coming from the front door.
“Who could that be so early in the morning?”
The blonde skipped happily towards the large wooden doors at the head of the house.
‘At least I have someone to talk to now’ was his thoughts, but shortly he would wish he had spent the entire day alone.
He grasped onto the cold metal handle of the door, pulling the oak door towards him, a flush of bright light filled in from outside, slightly blinding him for a moment, suddenly shock began to creep across his face, on the other side of the door was…
“Sakura…” he whispered her name.
This had been the girl he had had a crush on for almost 3 years, the girl that he had been paired up with Sasuke. Team number seven. The girl that rejected him before he sub came to his true feelings for Sasuke deep inside his heart. With a shaky voice Naruto was just able to say,
“Sakura...Ah…c-come in”
Sakura walked in with an air of grace to her, she stopped, waiting for Naruto to lead her to the lounge room, she had never been inside the Uchiha mansion before this day. Her eyes traveled around the house as Naruto escorted her into the lounge room, it was indeed very spacious, on the walls there was a pale violet lily design, around the flowers was a gold trimming making the flowers stand out and sparkle. Sakura sat down onto a cream coloured double lounge ‘its soft’ was her first thought, she carefully began placing herself into a lady like position, while on the other side Naruto just plonked himself onto the lounge opposite of her, the blonde already knew she had been surveying the house, but what truly played in his mind right now was…why was she here?
It had been a long time since Naruto had laid eyes on Sakura, she had changed over the span of 4 years, she was much taller, her body was graceful as it moved and she had developed into a beautiful woman. She had once again let her hair grow out long, it was still a delicate pink, and shone brightly when the sun hit it, she currently had it tied up into a bun, leaving two large bangs loose on the side of her head, her aqua eyes still burning with life. Her smile was the only thing that hadn’t changed.
It seemed that the silence was going on forever; neither of them spoke but aimlessly stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something. Naruto was the first to break the silence,
“So…how have you been?” as stupid as it sounded, it was the only thing he could think of to say.
“Before or after you took Sasuke from me?” was the curt reply.
Whether Sakura was provoking Naruto or not, it seemed to be working, his face contorting with anger,
“I didn’t steal him. If I remember correctly I was still very much still in love with you at the time. Sasuke willingly choose to be with me, while you didn’t and continued to go after him instead” the blonde finished those words and crossed his arms tightly.
Sakura breathed a heavy sigh, before replying with the utmost calm,
“Yeah…I know that now. But before…I didn’t. It was hard to understand that I had been rejected for good. I ended up pushing myself into a stupid cycle where all I did was drive myself to train and go on numerous A-rank missions. To tell you the truth I nearly drove myself into the ground, literally speaking. Besides…it doesn’t matter to me anymore”
Inside Naruto guilt began to well up; he hadn’t of known what had happened to Sakura after Sasuke had decided to be with him, it came as a shock that someone as mature as Sakura would do something like that to herself.
“Sorry…I really didn’t know” Naruto replied apologetically. Suddenly curiosity began to get the better of Naruto, before he knew it he had blurted out,
“Wait. What do you mean it doesn’t matter? OH OH don’t tell me that you finally accepted Lee’s love for you and that you’re dating? Eh? Eh?” shocked at how fast the words had slipped out of the blonde’s mouth, he darted his hand over his mouth, only to cover the smirk that began to form on his lips a small glint in his sky blue eyes.
“Heck no. Lee…is…WAY too unique for me” was Sakura’s blunt reply.
“But then…who is it? And why are you here then?” Naruto finished with a questioning stare. The palm of his right hand supporting his head while his elbow balanced on his thigh.
“If I am to tell you who it is, I’ve gotta start from just when I destroyed my last attachments to Sasuke. It was just last year; I had accepted the truth that Sasuke wasn’t mine to control and with this I broke out of my routine of drowning away my emotions in training and missions. I still continued to do both, but I slowed them down a lot. I found more time for myself and for the things I enjoyed the most. I continued to train with Tsunade and because of that she taught me a lot of medical ninja skills, I was even able to learn some special techniques, after awhile I ended up becoming her apprentice.
But…everything changed after that incident. Both me and Tsunade got called to treat some ninja’s that had gotten into a fight with another, we arrived at the location…I’ll never forget that moment, it was the first step, the initiation of my full detachment from my emotions for Sasuke, it created for me a new person to love, a new person to want and desire.” Sakura ended, her head bent down, her eyes shimmering as she remembered that incident, that day.
If it hadn’t of happened she would have probably still be mopping around, still trying to find a path to follow.
Naruto was already getting impatient, all this talking and she hadn’t said who the lucky guy was, he began to lightly drum his fingers on the arm of the lounge, staring eagerly at Sakura, waiting for her to begin speaking again.
Sakura began to talking once again,
“You will be the first person I have told about me and him…This is the way we wanted it to be, the second most important people in our lives knowing the happiness we feel at the moment” Sakura smiled sweetly, giving Naruto the feeling that she was afraid to tell him who her lover was.
“Naruto…the person I’m involved with is…..Itachi” Sakura looked away from Naruto just as that name hit the blonde’s ears her right hand coming up to cover her mouth with her delicate fingers. Rage began to be etched onto Naruto’s face, ‘that guy…that guy…of all the men in Konoha she had to choose that one…’ Naruto’s thoughts were pushed from inside him and into a verbal response; he stood up abruptly and began to make his opinion voiced,
“WHY HIM? Of all the people…out of everyone WHY THAT MAN! He’s hurt so many people, he walked a path of blood and yet you fall for him? TELL ME WHY?”
Naruto’s rage began to build; he was slowly loosing control over his emotions and his chakra, his hand forming a tight fist, almost to the point of drawing blood. Sakura withdrew into the cream lounge almost whimpering, her head down, her eyes facing her lap; she brought her two hands together, interlocking them together upon her lap. If she didn’t explain to him what she feels, then there wouldn’t be any hope for her or Itachi.
“Loving someone, wanting to hold them, wanting to be with them…having those feelings thrown aside like they were nothing…I now understand how badly you must of felt when I refused to be with you but… you had someone waiting for you at the end of that path…you had Sasuke… unlike me I had no one. I was left alone with those lingering feelings of something that I wanted but could never have.
He looks so similar to Sasuke…I guess that what ever I felt for Sasuke got transferred over to Itachi. Itachi has been through rigorous mind rehabilitation, he isn’t allowed to do missions other than D-rank and can not use his chakra above a certain point, if he does a transmission is sent to the Hokage, this will probably be like this for most of his remaining life. He isn’t the same person as before…” Sakura finished, still with her head drooped down.
“But Sakura…” Naruto’s rage suddenly dropped, Sakura seemed to be very serious about what she was saying, and yet…Naruto couldn’t help but feel that somehow she was going to get burned and burned badly at that.
“Love…Love doesn’t have the constricting boundaries of right and wrong, it doesn’t understand gender or race…love is love. That’s why…that’s why…” Sakura didn’t finish off the sentence; she continued to stare down at her lap, feeling the regret of telling Naruto her secret.
The blonde sighed and lazily fell back into the lounge, ‘Love ay? Love…’ thought Naruto, he could understand what Sakura meant, after all Sasuke and himself were living proof that love doesn’t understand those boundaries of gender. Naruto began to speak; Sakura tightly shut her eyes expecting him to yell once again,
“You do realize that Sasuke is not gonna be happy bout this…then again, no more than he has been lately though…” Naruto sat back into the lounge placing one arm upon the top of the lounge and the other he ran his finger through his golden locks, almost in a cool like fashion. The blonde closed his sky blue eyes trying to somehow relax after these sudden events.
Concern began to spread across Sakura’s face, she wondered whether something was wrong, and playing the mature female role she decided to ask Naruto and relieve him of the pain and worry that was most probably inside him currently.
“Neh? What do you mean Naruto? You guy bickering again? Or…is there something really wrong this time?”