Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This story is set in the world of Escape & Evade, a world in which the village was formed quite differently to cannon.

There are reasons for the differences from cannon in this story and many of them are contained in The World Building of Escape and Evade.

However, there are a few things that might be relevant so I’m going to put them here:

Characterisations differ significantly from cannon as the the timelines have diverged a lot over time.

Minato was never adopted into the Namikaze family and instead married into the Uzumaki clan.

They live in Konoha.

There are no Jinchūriki.

The Second and Third Shinobi World Wars never happened.

The Uchiha massacre never happened.

Zetsu is dead.

This AU is set in Japan.

The Meiji Restoration has occurred, and Japan is no longer isolated from the outside world.

The daimyo no longer hold power. Instead of replacing the daimyo with prefectures, the shinobi villages administer the elemental countries under the divine guidance of the Emperor. They hold political power and he provides legitimacy.

There is no centralised and expansionist Japanese military. The elemental countries are far more interested in competing internally for resources and importing western knowledge.

Naruto is born in 1895, but the First Sino-Japanese War never happens and never will happen.

Warning:

Fifteen year old Naruto and Sasuke make out in one of the later chapters, but there is no sex - hands mostly above the waist and lots of kissing.

This story is written episodically and, as such, is complete as it is written now.

However, I will add more to it later once I finish Rock the Revolution, the story of how Rock Lee becomes the star of Recon and crucial to Hinata’s radical revolution within the Hyūga.

Chapter Text

Naruto is born into a happy and loving family.

It’s an easy birth and Minato is the only one who cries. In fact, he cries copiously, smiling all the while.

Naruto is small and perfectly formed, with pink cheeks, a little button nose, and an adorable pout. He has his father’s colouring and his mother’s lungs.

He is LOUD but also ADORABLE.

Iruka steals him constantly and carries him around so that Naruto can see the world. Kakashi finds this both cute and terrifying. For the first time, there is a Cub in his personal Pack.

Minato and Kushina do it too. Naruto is never left alone, not even for a moment. There is someone with him every second of every day.

But there are still problems.

For a start, when Minato carries Naruto on his back in the onbu, Naruto tries to eat his hair. Kushina has the same problem.

The first time Kushina tries pinning her hair up with a kanzashi, Naruto yanks it out and almost stabs himself, so that idea is abandoned immediately.

Both of them volunteer to cut their hair short so he won't end up coughing up a hairball like a cat but the other person is HORRIFIED.

Minato says “But it’s so beautiful!” and Kushina says "YOUR HAIR IS LIKE A GOLDEN WATERFALL!” so they end up braiding each other’s hair every morning while the person getting braided plays with Naruto in their lap.

It’s part of a bigger pattern.

Minato and Kushina become the parents who worry about everything.

What Minato thinks is okay as as civilian freaks Kushina out. What Kushina thinks is okay as an Uzumaki freaks Minato out.

It happens even before Naruto is born and just never stops.

Kushina: I'm pregnant!
Minato: Sit down IMMEDIATELY AND PUT YOUR FEET UP!
Kushina: ?????

Minato: Let him play in the front garden without supervision! Random people passing by will pat him on the head! It will be adorable!
Kushina: NO! RANDOM PEOPLE WILL PAT HIM ON THE HEAD!
Minato: ????

Kushina: *sits up bolt upright in the middle of the night* What if he doesn't want to be a shinobi?
Minato: *sleepily* Then he'll be a civilian?
Kushina: !!!!!

Minato: *sits up bolt upright in the middle of the night* What if he wants to be a shinobi?
Kushina: *sleepily* Then he'll grow up to kill people?
Minato: !!!!!

Iruka and Kakashi laugh so hard.

Then Naruto starts at the academy, and Iruka has problems of his own.

Iruka: This is what you get for pranking me when I was your genin, Kushina-sensei!
Kushina: *face down on the table at the parent teacher meeting* Noooo….

Kakashi laughs at Iruka.

Then he gets Naruto as his genin.

Kakashi: *hauling Naruto home and presenting him in the genkan* This is what you get for marrying an Uzumaki, Minato-Sensei!
Minato: *covers his face with his hands* Noooooo….

And then Iruka laughs at Kakashi.

Revenge is sweet.

Chapter Text

Sasuke grows up in a happy family.

His mother comes from the line of Kikiyo-Sōsobo and his father from the line of Izuna-Sōsofu.

They never shared any ancestors, but - since Kikiyo-Sōsobo and Seto-Sōsofu were siblings and Seto-Sōsofu was married to Izuna-Sōsofu - they grew up together anyway.

So Sasuke and Itachi have high expectations for themselves.

Itachi is perfect.

Pale and fine featured, eyes alight with the Sharingan, long hair blowing in the wind, he's the epitome of Uchiha beauty.

He's also great with ninjutsu and his signature Karasu Bunshin is impressive. At 15, he's already made Jonin rank.

Sasuke at 10 is not that.

Sasuke is - to be frank - not pretty.

Instead, he's adorable.

He has a baby face!

He tries to look more grown up but nothing works. His cheeks are round, and his hair refuses to lie flat, instead spiking up like a hedgehog. It’s not quite as bad as the stories of Madara-sama say his was, but it’s more than bad enough.

All the obaa-san in the clan pinch his cheeks and try to fatten him up! He has to do extra training to burn it all off.

It's embarrassing.

At least he's good at being charming.

One smile, and everyone's willpower crumples.

It's his only achievement.

Okaa-san is pleased, though otou-san says it's cheating. She says he'll look more like Itachi as he grows older. He'll believe it when he sees it.

And then, one day outside the Academy, a boy with the longest golden hair that he has ever seen wearing the most eye searingly awful orange jumpsuit he has ever wished not to see, jumps out of a tree and presents him with a handful of freshly picked daffodils.

This boy loves him.

Him!

He falls in love on the spot.

(He doesn't even know the boy's name.)

Chapter Text

Naruto is amused.

He’s careful not to let it show on his face.

Fifteen is old to be camping out for the first time without his parents - even Sakura-kun did it before him and her parents are civilians - but otou-san couldn’t disagree after he passed the chūnin exams in the summer.

That’s the problem with having parents who are both civilian and shinobi. What one is okay with, the other won’t like. And they’re sneaky enough to make it a rule that both of them have to agree or he doesn’t get to do it. Ugh.

At least he’s here now.

He makes his voice as low and deep as he can, although it’s not very deep at all. He makes up for it by rasping out some of the words, making his voice hoarse like he’s been shouting, and emphasising the key phrases.

“… and after the first assassination attempt on Shodai-sama’s children, no one ever dared to try again.”

He drops the volume so that Sasuke leans in to hear better.

“People say that there's a small forest off the coast of Hi no Kuni, right on the edge of the road to Uzushio, where you can hear the trees whispering for blood.”

Sasuke shivers and he flatters himself that it’s not the autumn breeze that causes it.

He reaches out and takes Sasuke’s hand, turning it over so he can touch the pulse in the wrist with his other hand. It’s beating hard.

Sasuke’s skin is soft and tender, so pale that the veins are visible even in the flickering firelight. He traces them lightly with the tips of his fingers, barely touching.

Sasuke shivers again.

“They say that the roots of the trees spread just like these veins, and they fed on the blood of those who dared to try and harm the people Hokage-sama swore to protect.”

He raises the wrist to his mouth and looks up through his lashes to make eye contact. Sasuke’s Sharingan is flaring and his lips are slightly parted. His breath is coming fast.

Naruto whispers the next words right over Sasuke’s pulse point.

“They say that the trees still hunger for the blood of those who would harm Konoha.”

Sasuke’s fingers close around his chin and tip his face up. His lips are kissed even as his boyfriend climbs into his lap.

“You asshole.”

More kisses.

“I can’t believe you.”

Sasuke bites his lower lip harshly.

“Freaking me out just so I’ll - ah!”

He retaliates. Sasuke’s neck is right there and he mouths the skin before gently closing his teeth on it.

Sasuke hisses. “Gods damnit!”

He laughs lowly.

It’s a good laugh. He knows Sasuke likes it.

He noses behind Sasuke’s ear even as his hands roam over his boyfriend’s back, one flirting with the hem of his shirt, the other trailing up and down over the spine.

Then Sasuke grabs the tail of his hair and yanks his face away so they can see each other properly. “You know that’s not true!”

He smirks. “Nope. Not true at all. But… it got me this,” he pats the ass in his lap, “so I’m happy to bend the truth a little.”

Sasuke makes a grumpy face. “Bend it all out of shape, you mean.”

That’s enough of that.

That hand that he’d been sneaking under Sasuke’s top strokes the bare skin at the small of his back and Sasuke arches backwards.

He takes advantage to go for the neck again.

Best camping trip ever.

Chapter Text

Naruto: *toeing off his sandals in the genkan, yelling* Okaa-san! Otou-san! We’re home!

Minato: *comes down the stairs yawning, tying the belt of his sleep yukata* Welcome home! And you brought Sasuke-kun for breakfast too!

Naruto: *pointing at the love bites exposed by Minato’s sleep yukata* Otou-san! Come on! Ew!

Kushina: *coming down the stairs and draping herself over Minato’s shoulder* Oh? And what are those marks I see on Sasuke-kun’s neck then?

Sasuke: *blushes bright red* Hn.

Minato: *waves Kushina off* Dear, don’t embarrass the boy! We want him to feel welcome!

Naruto: *face palm* Otou-san…

Minato: What! He’s your boyfriend, you like him, he might be part of the family one day!

Naruto: Otou-san, I’m fifteen, not twenty! I’m not ready to be thinking about marriage!

Minato: That’s what your mother thought when I gave her daffodils. You never know, it might run in the family! *winks at Sasuke*

Sasuke: *still blushing, very softly* I wouldn’t mind…

Naruto: *aghast* WHAT?

Sasuke: *flailing a little* In the future! At some point, far away!

Sasuke: *almost whispering* I like the idea of being married to you, that’s all.

Naruto: *takes his hands* I do too. At some point, in the future, far away. And when we’re ready…

Naruto: *glares pointedly at his parents* I’ll make my OWN PROPOSAL THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Minato: *hearts in his eyes* Aw!

Kushina: *grinning wickedly* And until then, there’s always fucking. You did fuck right?

Sasuke: *about to spontaneously combust* NO!

Naruto: *at the same time* OKAA-SAN!!!!!

The End.

(For now.)

Chapter Text

Sasuke bites his lip and inches closer to his love.

Love, not lover, though he hopes to change that.

Naruto is the hardest target that he's ever had. He's had all the training - how to touch, how to convey desire with a look, how to be unobtainable, and when to appear to give in - but none of it, none of it, works on Naruto!

Nothing!

He caught Naruto when he was fifteen. Naruto should be his wife.

And yet they haven't even slept together.

The most that Naruto will do is put a hand under his shirt.

It's incredibly frustrating.

Naruto's hair falls forward as he bends over his work, almost dipping into the inkwell, and Sasuke smiles ruefully. He crawls over and kneels, putting his hands into the strands that Naruto never brushes and combing the tangles out with his fingers until the long golden tail flows smoothly down a strong back. He pushes the hair to one side, safely over a shoulder, baring the vulnerable nape of the neck.

It's beautiful, of course it is, and erotic too, but that's not what pleases Sasuke.

A strike here could mean paralysis or death.

That Naruto will let him touch, stroke, kiss...

He presses his lips to soft skin, almost as pale as his own with the way it never sees the sunlight, and delights in the way Naruto groans his name.

"Sasuke..." Naruto sounds plaintive but not unwelcoming as Sasuke traces an invisible line with his mouth. "Sasuke, I was working."

"Ah, but you're always working," Sasuke keeps his voice low and coaxing, a match to the hush of the night and the gentle song of the cicadas. "You work too hard. Won't you let me bring you some respite?"

Any of the clients at the Matsunoya would have yielded, given in, and it's what Sasuke had hoped for.

Instead all the muscles in Naruto's back tense, becoming iron under his lips, and he draws away regretfully. He's the son of his mother, heir to all of her wiles and manipulation, her knowledge of how to read people, and Sasuke knows that this... this will not get him what he wants.

He chose wrong.

"Sasuke," Naruto catches his hand before he can pull away completely, keeping him in place. "Sasuke, I..."

"You don't want to, I know." Sasuke bestows a last kiss on yellow hair, filled with affection instead of lust. "Not right now. I won't distract you any further."

"No, that's not it." Naruto lifts his arm, pressing a delicate kiss to his wrist and turning in the circle of his embrace. "Sasuke, I want only what you want. You touch me and it feels like you want me, but... I won't take chances with you." Broad shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. "You're too important to me."

Sasuke's eyes flare with the Sharingan, memorising a beloved face, reading the rueful expression in bright blue eyes and knows that Naruto speaks nothing less than the truth.

Perhaps it was as simple as this all along.

He’s been too much the Uchiha.

Naruto needs him to be Uzumaki.

He takes a deep breath and brings their foreheads together. "Hey, Naruto."

"Yeah?" There's mischief in that dawning smile and Sasuke loves it.

"Wanna fuck?"

The world spins as Sasuke's back hits the tatami. Trained instincts urge him to break free but he masters them, going limp instead.

Naruto's face above him is as bright as the sun, alight with joy and amusement in equal parts in the dim light of the room.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Chapter Text

"Tadaima!" Mikoto calls out as she climbs the engawa but she doesn't expect a reply. It's late and the boys are probably over at Kushina's house since they have a much higher chance of being fed there.

Minato's workday is actually fairly predictable, barring accidents, and even Kushina works shorter hours than she does. The consequences of being the Head of Internal Defence - she works late, the reports pile up on her desk, and she has less time for family than she'd like.

Still, it's good to know that Sasuke has a warm and welcoming meal waiting for him at the end of the day, even if it's not hers. She heads into the kitchen, hoping that there's something she can make into a quick snack before she falls into bed, onigiri perhaps, before halting at the sight of dirty dishes in the sink.

Ah, then the boys did eat here after all.

They cooked, and a glance is enough to tell her it was gyudon.

More, there's a bento left out for her and Fugaku to share, a kindness that's typical of her youngest child. However, they should have cleaned up after themselves rather than leaving that for others and she heads over to Sasuke's room to remind them of their responsibilities.

Sliding the shoji open though, releases noises that make a lecture on manners the last thing on her mind.

Perhaps giving Sasuke silencing seals was a mistake.

If they hadn't, she'd have had warning.

Sharingan bright eyes meet her own and Sasuke yelps with shock.

It's the only warning she has, and she turns her face away just in time to avoid the eye watering flash of the Hiraishin.

Why, oh why, must the Hiraishin be so bright?

Chapter Text

Naruto flies up the stairs, heading for his bedroom.

"Naruto-chan?" His mother's yell follows him. "What's going on? I thought you were spending the night at Mikoto-san's!"

"Sorry, sorry!" He babbles apologies, grabbing for clothing that's lying on the floor and hastily dressing himself, all the while knowing that it's not okaasan that he should be apologising to.

He can't believe he left Sasuke alone like that!

He yanks on a pair of pants, still dirty from training, and shoves his feet into sandals.

"Naruto-chan! Are you alright?" Okaasan sticks her head through his door. "Was there a problem? Is Sasuke-kun okay?"

"No problem! He's fine!" Naruto hopes that his soon to be lover is anyway. "I've got to go, I'll tell you later!"

That's enough warning for his mother to close her eyes and Naruto takes a deep breath.

"Hiraishin!"

Chapter Text

"Sasuke, all that I’m saying is -"

"Naruto is going to be my wife!" Sasuke interrupts him for the third time and Fugaku struggles to hold onto his temper.

He manages it.

Just.

"And I won't deny that!" He can't anyway since Sasuke caught Naruto in the Run and the boy has more than proved his worth to be an Uchiha. Clan head or no, there are limits to Fugaku’s power. "But you are both very young to be starting a family, don't you think?"

"Just because you did not manage to catch okaasan's attention until you were twenty two is not a reason for me to wait," Sasuke's sharingan spins wildly and Fugaku knows that his own reveals his matching agitation despite all of his attempts to keep a stern and impassive countenance. "I would marry Naruto tomorrow if I could!"

And what a disaster that would be.

Newly made Jōnin both of them, Naruto only just now beginning his career in R&D and Sasuke entering into the diplomatic service, they should be focusing on their jobs. Establishing themselves before they marry!

Sasuke is too young and that's all there is to it.

"Well, you can't!" Fugaku rarely raises his voice and Sasuke flinches to hear his shout. Good. Maybe it will drive home his point that -

A blinding flash fills the room and Fugaku reflexively slaps his hands over his eyes.

It's too late though.

He's blinded.

Damn the Hiraishin anyway.

Chapter Text

Naruto: *checking Sasuke's watering eyes* Oh, love! I'm so sorry!

Sasuke: *clutching Naruto's waist* You came back, that's all that matters.

Naruto: Of course I did! I had to! I would never leave you alone! It was instinct! I -

Mikoto: *interrupting them as she wipes away Fugaku's tears while he sits stoically on the tatami* Naruto-kun.

Naruto: *gulping* Uh... yes?

Mikoto: *sighing* ... maybe arrive outside the house in future. Yes?

Naruto: *shamefacedly* Yes. I'll do that.

Mikoto: ... and you should call me okaasan.

Naruto: *perking up* Yes, okaasan!

Chapter Text

Sasuke bites his lip nervously.

Winter is... not the usual time for this kind of thing.

Spring would be more appropriate, but the flowers that he's been waiting all year to pick have only just begun to bloom and he can't bring himself to wait until the new year. So he knocks on the door to Naruto's lab - sturdy wood in the western style rather than the traditional shoji, all the better to contain accidents - and waits.

"It's safe to come in!" Naruto's voice sings out the phrase that the Anija Safety Directives mandate must be said before any lab can be entered and Sasuke cautiously opens the door.

Seal development may sound boring to the civilians of the village who are used to seeing them everywhere - to heat baths and wash basins, to communicate, on storage scrolls. However anyone who has even the smallest knowledge of how they work is always wary of them and the destructive power that they can unleash.

And that is all the more necessary when the seals in question are untested.

Naruto sees his expression and laughs merrily.

"It really is safe, I promise!" The tanned hand waves a pencil rather than a brush and Sasuke relaxes. "I'm just writing down the results of my latest experiment."

"A success?" Sasuke enquires gently. He's prepared to listen to a barrage of technical details but Naruto shakes his head.

"No, a total failure." Despite that, Sasuke's lover is grinning. "But more information is always good, and the way it failed gives me some new options to investigate."

"Ah, I see." Sasuke shifts his weight, letting his nervousness communicate itself. He could control his body - of course he could, his training is to do exactly that - but with Naruto he never does.

Honesty is, and always has been, the best way to communicate with his beloved.

"Sasuke? Are you alright?" Concern creeps into Naruto's face. "Is something wrong? Your parents, brother...?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Sasuke hastily reassures. "They're all fine. I'm... I came to bring you something."

"Oh?" Naruto puts down his pencil and steps out from behind his desk. "Something... important?"

"Yes," Sasuke nods. "The most important thing I've ever given you."

Naruto's eyebrows fly up and Sasuke brings his arm around to reveal the flowers that he was hiding out of sight behind the door. He takes a deep breath and holds them out, careful not to crush the fragile stems that he picked just this morning at dawn's first light.

Between them, the daffodils are a burst of colour, as yellow as his beloved's hair.

"Naruto?" Sasuke's Sharingan looks into bright blue eyes. "Will you marry me?"

The lips that crash down on his are all the answer that he needs.

Chapter Text

Naruto: *wrenching his mouth away from Sasuke* Oh gods, we can't do this here.

Sasuke: *panting* You're right.

Naruto: I... I have to...

Sasuke: *consciously slowing his breathing down to something calmer* You have to finish your work.

Naruto: *shaking his head* I have to get myself fired.

Sasuke: ... what.

Naruto: *laughing breathlessly* Believe it!

Chapter Text

Minato: *throwing up into a basin* Naruto…

Naruto: *not very contritely* Sorry, otousan.

Minato: *wiping his mouth* I know you want to work for your mother, but did you have to feed me unknown biological samples from an unlabelled sealing scroll?!

Naruto: Those were the only two of the Anija Safety Directives that I hadn’t broken yet! It was only efficient to combine them!

Minato: *plaintively* But… on your own father?

Naruto: You know I couldn’t have done it to anyone less senior!

Minato: Naruto….

Naruto: … yes?

Minato: *attempting to look stern* You’re fired.

Naruto: *jubilantly* YES!

Chapter Text

Shisui winces.

Hidden in the rest of the clan, just one more indigo clad Uchiha among many, he has the freedom of knowing that there are no eyes on him.

Because everyone is watching Naruto-kun.

Not satisfied with wearing an orange shiromuku - not just refusing the traditional white but actually orange, out of all the colours in the world! - Naruto-kun is now disputing it with one of the Elders.

"Hn," the man is old, older even than Shisui's grandmother, and stubborn as a recalcitrant ox. "Then you are wearing an uchikake."

"No, I'm not." Naruto-kun bares his teeth in a gesture that no one can mistake for a smile. "It's a shiromuku. Believe it!"

Itachi's face is a calm and serene mask as he stands in support of his brother, but Shisui knows that's all it is - a mask. Next to him, Sasuke is bristling in defence of his new wife and Shisui despairs for the rest of the wedding.

This is all going so wrong.

Most of the elders don't care about Naruto's clothing of course.

In fact, Haruto-sama is actually chuckling and Mamiko-sama is hiding her smirk with her sleeve. They can laugh all they want, it's the privilege of age to be immune to the displeasure of those in their generation, but those younger than they cannot afford to ignore the ill will of a substantial portion of the clan, even if it is a small group.

Which means that it's up to him.

Shisui has his own reputation to think of but, unlike Sasuke and Itachi, his is a carefully cultivated one of unpredictability and minor rebellion.

It gives him the freedom to do what he must to solve problems, because that's exactly what his job entails. As a member of Internal Security, his role is to identify problems within the village, isolate them, prevent them from spreading, and work to fix them.

Even within his own clan.

"It's a shiromuku because it takes dye really well," Naruto-kun’s voice is insolent and his hands are hidden in his sleeves, always a worrying thing in a seal master. "I'm happy to be dyed in Sasuke's colours, if anyone has a vat of indigo handy!"

"Well, I do." Shisui pushes forward, out of the crowd. "Have indigo, I mean."

Now that the eyes of the clan are no longer focused on him, Itachi takes the opportunity to quietly make a hand sign of gratitude. As such, Shisui's wink is for Naruto-kun and his cousin both. "I was saving it for a prank, but what better use for it could there be than this?"

Trapped by his own words, Naruto-kun's expression goes rueful before a genuine smile takes over his face. "Otousan was dyed at his wedding, I guess I can't break tradition."

"Then come, Naruto-kun." Shisui gestures toward his feet as little Nemu-chan brings over a low stool. "Come sit... and become an Uchiha."

Chapter Text

Sasuke's arms ache and the water on the bathroom floor is blue, but he only scrubs harder.

Damn Shisui anyway!

Why must his family be so awful! He loves Naruto! That's enough, surely?

Oh, he knows that's unfair.

Okaasan didn't care, nor did obaasan, and ojiisan was actually laughing. Otousan... well, he didn't say anything.

Sasuke knows, he knows, that there is a portion of the clan who would rather not see his father as Clan Head - descendant of Izuna-Sōsofu or not. And yes, Naruto's behaviour was... not the best.

But still, was pouring a bucket of dye over Naruto's beautiful golden head the only answer that Shisui could think of?

Despite his aggravation, his fingers are gentle as he combs through the strands and he's careful not to tug or pull.

This isn't Naruto's fault.

It's his.

His clan, his wife, and his failure to diplomatically navigate a way out of this for all of them.

Shisui had to step in and help, which says everything that needs to be said about this situation.

"Sasuke," Naruto's hands catch his. "Hey, Sasuke. Calm down, it's just dye."

"It's not just dye," Sasuke can feel the tears in his throat fighting with anger. "They were questioning your place."

"We knew that they would," Naruto points out, gently pulling on his wrists, drawing them together. "I'm not the Uchiha bride they hoped you would marry."

"We have been together for years," Sasuke wraps his arms around his lover. "How could they expect me to give you up?"

"Expect, no, probably not." Naruto's strong shoulders move in a shrug." I guess it was more of a... hope."

"Well, then they were wrong." Sasuke buries his face in hair that is no longer purely yellow, hair that Naruto has never cut. "I'm sorry that you had to pay the price for it. For me."

"Sasuke! Sasuke, no!" Naruto scrambles up from the bath stool, turning in the circle of his arms so that they're both kneeling on the floor. "I was happy to be dyed in your colours! It's no price at all!"

Sasuke stares into wide blue eyes, his Sharingan reading the truthfulness there. "But... but your hair!"

"It's only hair," Naruto grins at him, but it's a little shy. "And you still think I... look good, right?"

"I think you are beautiful." Sasuke cups Naruto's face between his palms. "Naruto, you are beautiful, no matter the colour of your hair."

"Then forget the hair, forget the dye," Naruto closes his eyes, tilting his face up, and Sasuke admires the flush that decorates his cheeks, pink as the sakura petals that fell upon them this morning. "It's our wedding night, in our new house, all alone together. Let us begin our life together with love."

"Yes, you are right." Sasuke brushes his thumb over Naruto's cheekbone, so near the eye, but never a threat. "I love you. Yome."

"Yes," Naruto shivers to hear himself so named. "Shujin."

Hearing his wife call for him, Sasuke feels his own response run through his body like lightning.

He tilts his head and takes the lips that are his to take.

Now and forever.

Chapter Text

And that is the story of how Sasuke got a wife and how Naruto fulfilled his dream of opening his own courtship with daffodils, doing it all backwards just like his parents.

However, this story is not the end of this AU.

I also have many other stories to tell, including - but not limited to - Buntan’s Baby Brother (the story of how Buntan protects her family), Asking for Advice (Asuma and Kurenai's romance), Playing with Pups (the story of how Shizuma realises that might doesn't always make right), and Baby Bang Becomes (the Tsuchikage), the story of how Deidara grows up and learns to fly.

Thank you for reading my stories, and I hope that they will continue to entertain you into the future.

— Phlebas

P.S. Tomorrow I begin posting To Leave a Legacy - the story of Kikiyo and her descendants.