Joyous Midsummer and Joyous Pride, Shana! Dealer's choice of fandom, something involving family history?
Sasuke is tuning out the babble of everyone around him because he doesn’t give a shit, eyes trained down below on the delegation making their way down the street.
“Oi! Uchiha!” Kiba throws an arm around his shoulder. Sasuke shrugs it off. “Are you listening?”
Kiba sputters. Sakura rolls her eyes and leans forward on the banister. “See him yet?”
“See who?” Kiba asks. “The Uzukage is right there.”
Not that they can see much of him, between the carriage and the hat.
“Forget the Uzukage,” Hanabi drawls. “He’s looking for his boyfriend.”
Being put on a team with the two girls isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to him, but it’s up there.
“You have a boyfriend from Uzu?” Chouji asks skeptically. “Isn’t that a little awkward, you know, considering?”
“What, the hokage fell for an Uzu honeypot twenty years ago and now we can’t date between villages?” Hanabi snorts. “They’re here for the chunin exams. Relations are fine.”
“Now,” Ino says. “They never gave back that secret scroll they took.”
“Allegedly,” several voices say at once.
“Will you all just shut up?” Sasuke snaps.
He strikes fear into the hearts of his enemies with just his mere presence. These assholes just ignore him.
“No sight of him then?” Sakura asks, nudging his shoulder.
Kiba frowns, eyes squinted as he looks down. “Who’re we looking for? Who’s Sasuke’s boyfriend? Do we know him?”
“Oh, you’ve heard of him,” Shikamaru says, because he’s a jerk.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” he says, even though he knows it’ll just make it worse. “Don’t spread rumors.”
“Well, your brother and my sister aren’t married yet, so he can’t be your fiancé,” Hanabi says. “How improper would that be, getting engaged before your elder brother is married?”
Sakura grins. “Right, that would be the improper thing between them.”
“Stop teasing him,” Hinata scolds. “We’re supposed to be scouting the competition.”
He hadn’t had much of an opinion on Hinata when they were kids, but these days he’s glad that she’s the one betrothed to Itachi. She usually takes his side when Itachi starts being overbearing and the others annoying. The decision to have the eldest daughter of the Hyuuga marry the future clan head of the Uchiha had come under scrutiny from both sides, but it solidified the hard won alliance between their families. Plus it allowed Hanabi to take the position of clan heir without having to kill her sister for it.
“What we?” Hanabi rolls her eyes. “You and Lee are the only ones unlucky enough to have genin teams competing.”
“Team Twelve is scouting by the tower,” Hinata says. “We’re supposed to be doing the same here.”
“I’m just here for the food,” Chouji says.
“I have no idea why I’m here,” Shikamaru adds.
Shino sighs. “I’m on it, Hinata, don’t worry.”
“But, seriously, no sight of him?” Sakura asks, frowning. “I know he doesn’t like coming to Konoha, but didn’t he say he’d be here?”
Yes. He could be acting as a hidden guard to the Uzukage, but hidden guards don’t stay hidden in situations like these for long, so there’s not much point to them. He should be down there with the rest of the delegation, but he’s not.
“Okay, seriously, who are we talking about?” Kiba asks. “Don’t leave me in the dark here.”
“But you’re so comfortable there,” Sakura teases. “It’s Uzumaki Naruto.”
Kiba stills, eyes going wide. He works his jaw back and forth before managing, “You can’t be serious. The Demon of Uzu? The Red Flash? He’s S ranked in the bingo book!”
“So am I,” Sasuke says in irritation.
“I actually find both those names derivative,” says a voice from right behind them. Sasuke’s glad everyone’s distracted by whirling around in surprise because it means they’re too busy to notice the smile that steals across his face before he can stop it. “Just Naruto is fine.”
Something unclenches in his chest at the sight of him. He skims him over for injuries, like always, but he seems fine. He’s standing tall and self assured, no visible weapons on him and wearing a light blue robe embroidered in gold, the sort of fussy nonsense he hates, but he is here on an official visit. He has a gold veil across the lower half of his face, something he usually hides with a mask, but this is likely his attempt at appearing friendly. The sheer gold cloth obscures the finer detail of his face, but not the sharp shape of his jaw or his friendly grin. Green eyes are crinkled at the corners and his long red hair is pulled into a hightail. He looks more like a prince from a fairytale than a deadly ninja.
“Have you been eavesdropping?” Sakura asks, stepping forward to poke his shoulder.
“Would I do that?” he asks innocently.
“Yes,” Sasuke answers, stepping closer. “You’re late.”
Naruto meets him, bending down to lift him off his feet. Sasuke raises an eyebrow, but allows it, looping an arm around his shoulders. “My sincerest apologies. Let’s discuss this in private.”
There are some shouts of surprise but they fade as Naruto flash steps them out of there, so fast that anyone who catches sight of him likely only sees a blue and red blur from the corner of their eye. He’s unsurprised when they arrive at his home in the Uchiha compound despite Naruto never having been there before.
He’s conveniently stopped them in the bedroom.
Sasuke swings his bodyweight so Naruto falls on his back onto the bed, shifting on the way down so he lands on top of Naruto, his knees around his hips and his hands by his head. Which works, of course, because Naruto lets it, the same way Naruto had been able to pick him up because Sasuke allowed it.
They allow each other a lot of things.
Sasuke pulls the veil off and flicks it to the side. He’s seen the whisker like scars on his face before, but he’s surprised to see it now. His eyes go red, spinning lazily, and he frowns. “No genjutsu?”
“In a village full of Uchiha? No point,” he says. “Had to do it the practical way this time. Hair dye and colored contacts.”
He bites the inside of his cheek. “What are you doing here? He’s going to notice.”
“He hasn’t noticed for twenty years,” he returns.
“He hasn’t seen you. He’ll see you this time,” Sasuke says. “You wouldn’t risk that just for some kid exams. What’s going on?”
Naruto sighs. Sasuke doesn’t like the colored contacts. He’s used to Naruto looking like himself when they’re alone, used to being able to see deep blue eyes and fist his hands into bright blonde hair. He understands the necessity behind it, but he doesn’t like it. “Disturbing rumors are coming out of Suna.”
“And the Kazekage is here,” he says. “Don’t you have a source?”
“Gaara’s gone silent,” Naruto says grimly. “That’s part of the problem. It’s really putting everyone on edge. You think me being here is bad? My mom came too.”
Sasuke blinks. “Has she lost her mind?”
“I mean, I’ve been telling her she has for years, but no one listens to me,” he says.
“He might not recognize you,” he presses, “but he’ll definitely recognize her.”
He frowns. “It was one mission twenty years ago. She didn’t even give him her real name!”
Sasuke brushes his thumb across Naruto’s cheek. Scars or no scars, red hair or blonde, blue eyes or green, it doesn’t matter. He knows him. “I’d recognize you.”
He softens. “That’s different.”
Sasuke hums but doesn’t waste breath disagreeing, instead lowering himself enough to press his lips to Naruto’s, to feel his hands cup his face and his thigh between his legs.
If Minato feels less for Kushina than he feels for Naruto, then the hokage doesn’t deserve her anyway.
