Chapter 2
Hinata had been surprised when Sasuke had offered to continue their training sessions after she had failed so miserably in the chunin exams. The Hyuuga had been relieved that Sasuke hadn’t been there to personally witness her loss, but somehow that also made it harder for her to approach him.
That’s why she had been shocked when he showed up outside of her door at the crack of dawn a few days after his release from the hospital, unbothered by the Hyuuga elders eyeing him dangerously as he stood there, waiting for her to train with him. She had surely thought that after his stint in the hospital, he would want to train alone to get the most of the time he had lost, but her fellow omega had surprised her.
She had a feeling that from now on, Sasuke would be one surprise after another.
If he had been a strict teacher before, he was nearly austere afterwards. Any time she hesitated in the least, he would knock her down swiftly and demand that she get back into a fighting stance and attack him unflinchingly.
It was hard work, and her body screamed at her in protest almost every single second of their training sessions, but she was glad for it. Naruto had inspired her to not give up, and she would not let the inspiration fall through her fingers.
After allowing her to catch her breath, the Uchiha spoke up for the first time in an hour. “On this next round, use your byakugan.”
Before, his voice had been direct but encouraging, now it held barely any tone at all.
It worried her.
The elders of her clan talked about the nearly extinct Uchiha clan’s characteristics quite a bit. They used the stories of emotion fueled power hungry ninja as children’s stories, to scare the Hyuuga children into behaving. “Careful, if you keep climbing the tree, an Uchiha ghost might come and snatch you up!” was a scolding she’d heard most recently.
If a child were throwing a tantrum, an adult Hyuuga nearby would say “Quiet, the Uchiha caused a ruckus like you are now, and that’s why there’s only one left.” If Sasuke’s clan were so heavily driven by their emotions, how bad had his brother’s genjutsu been to make the Uchiha heir.. emotionless?
“Hinata.” her friend’s voice startled her from her thoughts, “Focus.”
She nodded in determination once as they both took a fighting stance.
Red eyes swirled at her and she could see all of his chakra points after she activated her own kekkei genkai. The shy girl braced herself, and let out a breath, letting Sasuke come at her so that she could block him. Before she could properly block him to slyly hit a chakra point, he kicked out his leg, forcing her back.
They fell into their usual routine, and Hinata pushed her worries from her mind as a pale fist made contact with her stomach.
~~~
Sasuke was almost impressed with Hinata’s progress. Her taijutsu was more fluid and confident, and she’d provided a moderately decent stand in for an opponent. She’d definitely improved in the few weeks he’d been training her.
Specifically, Sasuke wanted to practice against her because her cousin, Neji, had made it known that he wanted to fight against Sasuke. The omega needed to train against someone that would have a skill set similar to Neji’s so that if he needed to fight against the alpha, Sasuke would be familiar enough with the Hyuuga clan’s techniques that he would have the upper hand in the match.
Really, he shouldn’t be entertaining the idea of challenging Neji, as he had a goal he needed to work towards that was much more important than some Hyuuga alpha’s hurt pride. But something in the way the older male carried himself reminded Sasuke of Itachi, and Sasuke’s blood sizzled with hatred and distrust whenever Neji was around.
The others couldn’t see the way Neji’s eyes had a thirst for power, and rebellious hatred for his clan, but Sasuke could. It was part of the reason he’d agreed to train Hinata. Sasuke saw himself in her, a younger, weaker, hopeful version of himself, and Neji was her Itachi. If the Uchiha could prepare her a bit, maybe the outcome would be different when Neji finally snapped.
Maybe Hinata would be able to save her loved ones, like Sasuke had wished every second of the day that he had been able to.
He didn’t think the shy girl had caught on to his true motives yet. She still blushed and stuttered and thanked him for being kind enough to train with her when he should be training for more important things. It annoyed him because it slowed down practice and wasted time, but he didn’t want to upset her and lose out on a valuable training partner, so he held his tongue.
“Uh-S-Sasuke-kun?” His training partner asked from where she sat on the ground after having collapsed in exhaustion a few moments prior. He turned his attention to her, and responded by holding out a hand for her to grasp so that he could pull her up.
By now, she was moderately adjusted to his preferences for physical communication, so she didn’t take offense at his silence. Instead, she continued speaking softly, “Can-can we stop for the day please? I have to train with my sister later today.”
Ah, yes. He’d forgotten that as the future head of her clan, she also had a rigorous training regiment with her own clan trainers. Bitterly, he wondered what it would have been like to learn jutsu from someone that belonged to his clan. A memory long gone but not forgotten flashed behind his eyes, of a chuckling Shisui offering to show him some moves when he was older.
Sasuke was older now, and Shisui was long gone, just like the rest of them.
“Fine.” he bit out, too wrapped up in his mind to care about his tone.
It was all Itachi’s fault. He was the reason everyone was dead. He was the reason Sasuke couldn’t sleep. He was the reason he couldn’t look Naruto in the eyes for longer than a second without being doused with the iciness of cold, hot fear.
He was the reason Sasuke had to be alone.
But Naruto was the reason why he couldn’t be alone. He was the reason why he wouldn’t be alone.
~~~
“Hey Ino!” Naruto waved as he walked into the Yamanaka’s flower shop for the second time that week. Since the blonde girl had apologized to him for spreading rumors, Naruto had been coming to the shop to learn about plants.
It was probably one of the more surprising hobbies he’d picked up, mostly because he could barely remember to not drink expired milk, let alone water plants religiously, but something about trying to grow his own plants was calming. That weird, growling voice in his head would silence when he was tending to the little green stalks that Ino would provide him with.
“Oh, hey Naruto! You ready to help me clip the hyacinths today?” the omega smiled with her visible eye, and Naruto noticed the weird looking scissors in her hands.
“What are those?” The alpha asked, genuinely curious as he moved to stand in front of the desk Ino was working at. There were bits of stem trimmings scattered across the table’s surface, and a few petals that had been carefully removed from fully bloomed flowers because they were damaged in some way.
The Yamanaka flower shop did not sell damaged flowers.
“Oh these?” she asked carelessly as she gestured to the scissors offhandedly, “they’re floral shears. We use them to cut stems, because they’re really precise but also tough enough to get through the more sturdy ones.”
Dang, Naruto hadn’t really known that there were specific tools for flower stuff. He’d just assumed Ino’s family grew them, picked them, and then sold them.
Naruto took off his jacket, so he wouldn’t get green stains on it from accidentally smooshing a few of the discarded stalks pieces, and draped it over a wooden chair behind the counter.
“So, how do we clip the hya-whatevers?” he asked, intrigued as he watched her slowly, and precisely removed a damaged petal from an otherwise beautiful flower.
“Well,” she paused as she sat down her floral tools and pulled a waste basket closer so that she could throw the discarded pieces in the trash. Naruto helped her clear the space once he figured out what she was doing. “We use the shears to cut at a diagonal angle just above what I like to call the ‘knuckle’ in the stem,” she grabbed an uncut flower from a bucket on the ground to point to a bump about halfway up the stem.
“We do this so that the flower can keep taking in water through the freshly cut part. If we don’t remove the knuckle, most plants have a harder time soaking up the water they need, and they die a lot faster.”
That was.. actually kinda cool. Who would've thought a flower needed special conditions to actually soak up the water it needed to live?
“Here, you try,” the Yamanaka handed him an extra pair of shears from a drawer in the desk, and let him pick up his own uncut flower, “just follow my lead, nice and easy. Yep! You’ve got it!” she cheered after he made the cut.
The shears had sliced through the stalk with ease, and Naruto wondered why shears weren’t a ninja tool. They’d be much more effective than trying to saw through thick ropes with a kunai if someone was in a hurry.
The two made a surprisingly efficient team, because soon after she’d shown him how to properly cut the stems, they had gone through the entire bucket of two hundred flowers.
“So what’s so important about these hya-somethings anyways? Two days ago you guys seemed to be gearing up for some holiday or something, are these for that?” He asked as he yanked his beloved orange jacket back onto his body. He felt naked without it, like the beautiful orange material was a second skin for him.
Ino gasped and covered her mouth with the hand that wasn’t holding a bushel of flowers, “You mean, you don’t know?!” she squeaked, shocked.
Know what? Ugh, Naruto was tired of everyone knowing things but him! Seriously, how did everyone, even sheltered little Konohamaru know stuff when Naruto was always out of the loop! It wasn’t fair!
If the Uzumaki weren’t still masking his scent, as per Sasuke’s late night order to continue doing as they’d fallen asleep by the lake again, Ino would’ve caught on to the bitter, acidic citrus fragrance.
She cleared her throat and shot him a look of sympathy, “Festivus is in a few days. It’s the holiday that packs celebrate to have a full day of much needed bonding and relaxation. Haven’t you ever noticed a day every year where the village is basically empty?”
Naruto hadn’t, because most people in the village avoided him at all costs, why would he have noticed when people were hiding in their homes for a different reason?
“Uh, no, not really, Ino.” he tried to keep his voice energetic and happy, but he could tell she saw right through his attempt.
“Well, uh, packs typically spend the day inside, hanging out in nests and playing games or just enjoying the company..” she trailed off uncertainly.
He nodded, and smiled at her, thanking her for explaining it to him, when a question popped into his head. “Then what’s with the flowers?” he pointed to the varying colored plants stacked neatly on the desk they’d just been sitting at a few moments ago.
She tugged her long bangs out of her face and turned absentmindedly to look in the direction he’d gestured in, and her eyes lit up excitedly, the way they always did when someone asked her about flowers.
“Oh, the hyacinths! They have special meanings depending on the color, and the blue ones mean constancy, so people usually pair them with peonies, which mean compassion, and hydrangeas, because they typically mean sincerity. From what I’ve heard, and seen within my own clan, they’re either given to the pack omegas to give them something to decorate their nesting rooms with, or they are braided into people’s hair as a sign of unity and signify how strong their pack bonds are.”
She gestured to her own hair, and spoke giddily, “That’s part of the reason why the Yamanaka clan has longer hair styles! We have a deep respect for nature, and so we like to braid flowers into our hair for important events, like weddings or holidays!”
Naruto smiled at her, “Heh, I don’t know how you guys can keep up with all that hair, I can barely run a brush through mine!” he yanked at a particularly messy tuft of hair that he’d tried to detangle with a knife, but failed horribly. Almost as if the hair was alive, it decided to stick nearly straight up, like a fox ear, as payback for Naruto’s attempt at self grooming.
“Oh, it’s not so bad, we just have lots of hair care products.” she said offhandedly as she hoisted another tub of flowers onto the table labeled as irises on the front in neat handwriting. Unlike the hya-whatevers, the irises were a deep purple, and appeared to already be perfectly trimmed and groomed, as the alpha couldn’t spot a single imperfection among the entire batch.
He stood there dumbly, scratching the back of his neck, “You mean, you guys don’t just rub a bar of soap around in your hair and call it a day?”
How weird. It was just hair, why would it need different kinds of cleaning stuff?
Apparently, Naruto had said the wrong thing, because she dropped her equipment to stare at him, dumbfounded. “Naruto, please tell me you know what shampoo is.” Her eye twitched.
“Of course I know what it is! It’s that bottle of stuff with a really gross sounding name that they sell at old lady Kazuko’s shop!” he huffed.
Ino sighed and stared at him, before deflating and shrugging, “You’re one of a kind, you know that?”
It didn’t really sound like a compliment, but he took it as one anyway.
~~~~
To say Sasuke was having a midlife crisis at the ripe old age of thirteen would be an understatement. Only, instead of cheating on his nonexistent wife or buying a boat, Sasuke had been buying blankets.
Soft blankets, heavy blankets, grey blankets, orange blankets, all of them. Not a single fabric store in all of Konoha had been spared from his hunt.
Why was he collecting blankets like Kiba collected black eyes? Simple.
His nest had been feeling too small lately, and it had begun to make him feel restless. It felt empty but cramped at the same time, like there wasn’t enough room for something other than himself. It didn’t make sense.
Sasuke hated when things didn’t make sense.
As he turned down the path that would take him to his apartment the quickest, arms full with a neatly folded and stacked pile of various types of cloth, the scent of many enthusiastic alphas stopped him dead in his tracks. He adjusted his hold and peered over the top of the blanket stack, only to see that he had unintentionally run into his fan club during one of their weekly ‘Sasuke sightings’ meetings.
He paled, well, as much as he could any way, and cringed because he couldn’t retreat and live to fight another day. And the worst part of it was that in the end, it was his omega instincts that had led him right into the lion’s den!
He’d made it through a small genocide, a mind altering jutsu twice, and being licked by a legendary sanin in the chunin exams, only to die a horrible death at the hands of his so called fans.
He could see it now, him being ripped apart in a wide scale match of tug of war, and all for some stupid blankets that made his inner omega purr delightedly at the quality of the linens!
Silently, he cursed Konoha’s law that forbade shinobi from attacking the civilians. It was an outdated rule from a time when omegas weren’t allowed to be shinobi, and therefore, harassment wasn’t much of an issue.
That law really needed to be updated.
The giggles and shouts and chanting of the crowd halted, and Sasuke cringed. A feminine yet domineering voice shouted, “Look! It’s Sasuke! Our summoning ritual worked!”
… the summoning ritual did not work because it was impossible to summon anything without a seal, and seals took serious training and focus to even attempt creating one.
Sasuke grit his teeth at their stupidity, momentarily annoyed enough to be distracted.
He could just walk away. He could run. He could chidori all of them, bury the bodies, and just tell Tsunade that they had run away from the village collectively to begin a life of petty, but not unreasonable crime in another village.
…If the omega woman were drunk enough, she may even believe it.
“Here, angel, let me carry that for you!” An alpha girl with purple hair and the gross scent of musky daffodils purred at him, sidling up to him to grab hold of his prized nesting materials before he could even blink.
Sasuke glared. How dare this stranger alpha try and force him into interacting with her, but also touching his possessions without consent. And stinking them up with her grubby hands too!
“Hey! NO fair! Aika is getting all of his attention!” Someone whined while Sasuke had his stare off with the alpha now known as Aika, whose smirk was as slimy as the makeup she had on her face.
Three alpha girls tried and failed to sneak up on him to grab him, especially his hair which had been a favorite of these obsessed strangers for quite some time. He side stepped them all easily, simultaneously dropping his prized new blankets, and evaded more of their gasps by flipping through the air. He didn’t even need to activate his sharingan to perceive their movements, which made him slightly embarrassed for them.
He landed a good distance away from them, too far for them to touch him, but not far enough that he couldn’t hear them properly.
“He left his blankets! Grab them!” one girl cheered, making his blood boil. Those were his blankets! No one else should even get to see them, let alone touch them!
Right before a girl with pigtails could bend down and grab the light blue one, the best one, he let loose a fireball jutsu, aimed at the pile of newly purchased nesting materials, and set the soft fabrics on fire.
He did not want to know what those girls were going to do with his blankets, clearly for an omega’s nest, and he was not going to be put in a situation where he had to find out.
As they all jumped away, startled by the fire, and some even crying over the loss of “Sasuke’s gifts”, Sasuke took his leave.
He would need to speak with Tsunade about keeping those stupid village alphas at bay later. For now, he needed to let off some steam at the training grounds.
~~~
“You may be wondering why we’ve called this meeting,” Iruka spoke, silencing the chatter of the other senseis as they turned to pay attention to what he was about to say, “Kakashi and I have some news-” the instructor was cut off by an excited Anko jumping up from her chair, effectively knocking it to the ground and causing a loud crash to echo throughout the meeting room. Kurenai and Asuma bless them, waited patiently to hear what Iruka had been trying to say as Anko whooped and hollered behind them.
“Alright! You guys are finally sealing the deal and getting hitched! Sweet!” She waggled her eyebrows at the two of them, and Iruka took a step away from Kakashi, “Uh- no, see that’s not what we were-”
He was interrupted by Gai, “AH, My comrades! This is the most youthful news! Alas, Kakashi, my rival, I now have to catch up to you and get married too!” Gai twirled like a possessed ballerina and Iruka cringed. How was Gai standing on the tips of his toes like that?!
Kakashi intervened, handing a bucket to Iruka, who had been gagging at witnessing the jonin’s muscular toes in action, “No one is getting married, Anko! Iruka and I only have one relationship, and that relationship is platonically co-parenting Naruto.”
Gai fell to the ground, shocked and devastated that he would be unable to call dibs on being the best man and flower girl (flower boy? flower guy? flower Gai!!) after all.
Not that Kakashi would ever let him be the best man for his wedding, which he would never even have to begin with, because Gai.. had an interesting taste in fashion. The Hatake couldn’t be too sure if Gai would conform and get rid of the horrific green jumpsuit or not, and so it would be best to play it safe.
Kurenai patted Anko’s back in mock comfort as Asuma lit another cigarette.
“Back to what Iruka was saying, we have some bad news. The fate of the world depends on this, so please, listen closely.”
The other adults sobered up and looked at them with their own rapt attention, serious about the threat they were about to have to overcome.
“As you all are aware, except maybe Gai, the birds and the bees-”
“I KNOW WHAT BIRDS AND BEES ARE, KAKASHI! YOU’D KNOW THAT IF YOU JOINED ME ON MY MORNING NATURE WALKS!” The jonin interjected again.
Anko snickered and elbowed Asuma, who was having a difficult time trying not to laugh.
“Okay, Gai, you so missed the point. Anyway, the thing every single one of us has feared since the moment we signed up to be senseis has finally occurred.”
Jaws fell open, Asuma’s cigarette fell to the ground, causing a small fire that Kurenai stomped out, as Anko fell out of her chair in sheer terror. Iruka moaned in white hot fear beside Kakashi, and for once, the unthinkable had happened.
That’s right. Gai was silent.
“No, please, anything but-” Asuma wailed, throwing his head into his hands. Kurenai was the one to address the two, although her eyes shone with disbelief, “You can’t mean- it- it’s so soon!”
Kakashi sighed and wanted to slam his head into the wall. He knew this was a bad idea. He should have just taken Iruka and left the village and saved themselves and started new lives and gotten new identities and-
“I know, I know, believe me, we wish it weren’t true. But no matter how much we wish we could stop it from happening, we can’t.” Iruka soothed. The brown haired omega began to release his calming scent so that everyone could loosen up and stop panicking.
Too bad it wouldn’t work on Kakashi.
“Hah! Wait just a second princess, I know what you’re up to!” Anko accused maniacally. Seriously, why did she always act like someone had spiked her morning tea with sake and energy pills.
The stout woman threw a finger out, pointing at Iruka, whose eyes bugged out of his head like a fish out of water. “What? Pft I didn’t do anyth-”
“Oh, come on man! I’m an omega too, remember? I can tell when you’re trying to calm someone down!” She grinned. Leave it to Anko to call someone out on trying to subdue the chaos.
The Jonin pretended to throw imaginary long hair over her shoulder and batted her eyes like a doe to tease Iruka, and released the most putrid scent into the room that anyone could possibly be tortured with smelling.
Kakashi was glad he had chosen to wear not one, not two, but three masks today. They filtered out the scent enough for it to be almost manageable.
“Ah, jeez, Anko quit it! You always try to make your scent normal and it never works, please just stop!” Asuma coughed out. If Kakashi didn’t know better, he’d say Asuma’s words offended the omega, because she immediately began masking her scent again.
As the only survivor of Orochimaru’s experiments done to his genin squad, she was a bit of an enigma to the village. Her cast had remained the same, and she’d grown to be a fierce omega with a sense of humor that would offend even the likes of Master Jiraiya, but her scent had turned to that of poison.
Every time she thought she’d managed to make it less.. pungent, and she tried it on people, the results were nearly always the same. They coughed and wheezed until she began to mask it once more. Once upon a time, everyone had avoided her, save for the people in this room, because what omega smelled like death? But now, she’d been covering up her scent for so long that most people had forgotten all about it, although her usually being gone on long missions probably also had something to do with it.
“Sorry,” she chuckled, although the laugh didn’t quite reach her eyes, “I guess you ladies just can’t handle all of this!” she gestured to her body, and she waggled her eyebrows in mock seductiveness.
“Can we get back on track here?!” Kakashi finally snapped. He had things to do, and places to see, and gravestones to talk to like a madman on steroids! He couldn’t just waste his entire day here, talking about the oncoming doom that was Sasuke and Naruto.
“We call it operation SasuNaru.” Iruka started.
“You call it operation SasuNaru, I’m normal.” Kakashi rolled his eyes at the omega but let the brunette continue speaking after his interjection.
“Our precious genin have started to..date among themselves!” Iruka cried, startling Gai who rolled out of his chair and moved to stand in attack formation.
“NOooO” Kurenai wailed. Kakashi felt for her. She had Kiba Inuzuka on her squad and everyone knew the Inuzuka were nearly dogs.. in more ways than one. Plus, she had Hiashi Hyuuga breathing down her neck every step of the way, making sure to cement himself as the world’s biggest helicopter parent.
“I mean, it- it probably won’t be that bad, right? They can’t all cause that much trouble-” Asuma whispered.
Kurenai rolled her eyes, “Yeah, you have the Ino-Shika-Cho squad. They may as well be siblings. Plus, with how uninterested in general human existence Shikamaru is, I’d bet all my money that you’ll die before you see him getting into a relationship!”
Asuma looked relieved to hear it, and was about to respond, but Gai raised his hand and whined enthusiastically, like he was an overgrown alpha pup.
“Does this mean I can be my beloved student’s wingman and teach them the ways of subtle romance?” If it were physically possible, Kakashi would say Gai’s pupils had turned into a heart.
Iruka hissed. “Gai, nothing about you is subtle! Do you remember the Genma incident?!”
Everyone remembered the Genma incident, but everyone tried to forget.
“So what do we do? Just sit around and hide in a corner scared off our asses? Or do we train them so hard that they can barely stand, let alone have time for love lives?” Anko grinned mischievously.
“Yes! I agree with Anko!” Kakashi cheered, even going so far as to give the woman a high five.
Really, it was the only sane option. Tire Sasuke and Naruto out so that they couldn’t cause any trouble, so that he and the two legendary sanin could figure out a way to separate the two to protect them from themselves. It was genius and hardcore, and something Anko would have maybe too much fun with.
Iruka wheeled on him like a man possessed, “We can’t just train them into submission! They’re not mindless animals!” he cried, stricken by the other ninja’s more.. extreme approaches.
“Uh, they’re shinobi, they’re already being trained into submission and being turned into mindless animals.” Kurenai inserted, although she quickly sunk back into her seat when Iruka turned his frustrated “teacher look” on her.
“I for one, am not prepared for my sweet, innocent, adorable little Rock Lee to leave the nest and find some other person to sing him lullabies after a long day of running on his hands around the village six hundred times!” Gai cried, aggressively pulling a tissue box out of nowhere and drying his eyes.
Kakashi didn’t know what to focus on. The fact that Gai sang his student lullabies, the fact that this is what his life had come to, or the fact that at this very moment, Sasuke and Naruto could be out in the village somewhere, enjoying each other’s presence and being generally happy. Kakashi shivered at the atrocity.
“Okay people, listen up! We need a game plan, one that will work! Not just one where we pretend it’s not happening and let the hokage deal with the chaos!” Iruka scolded.
Asuma lit another cigarette, “I say we leave the village, change our names and start new lives as refugees in Suna.”
“Thank you! That’s what I said!” Kakashi remarked, gesturing wildly in the air with his hands while Iruka shook his head in dismay at the two senseis.
“Okay, what if we all try and coordinate so that all of our teams are off on missions except for one that will remain in the village, so that they can’t interact with each other?” Kurenai suggested.
“That won’t work as well as we’d think it would! They’d all get Stockholm syndrome and fall in love with their teammates!” Anko sighed, smirking at Kakashi like the devil reincarnated.
Damn Anko and her love of Kakashi’s suffering.
“My team wouldn’t, they’re basically cousins!” Asuma piped up proudly.
“Yeah, because when have clan members ever dated their cousins?” Kakashi drawled sarcastically, enjoying the way Asuma’s face turned red in disgust and embarrassment. Good. If Kakashi had to suffer, so would everyone else.
“Okay, so, let’s start with the facts,” Gai turned serious, “Naruto and Sasuke have been bitten by the love bug, has anyone else noticed any crushes or anything among their students?”
“Ino and Sakura had feelings for Sasuke, I don’t really know if that’s changed, but Hinata’s little crush on Naruto seems to have died down a bit lately.” Iruka answered, and after gaining questioning looks from the senseis, he snapped, “You all forget I was their teacher for five years! I know things too, you know!”
“Okay, well, Choji, Shikamaru, and Shino are safe. Shikamaru would rather play dead like a possum than waste energy on feelings, and Choji only has eyes for good cooking. Shino..he plays with bugs, do you guys really think that kid has love in his future?”
Kurenai smacked Asuma’s shoulder for insulting her student, but ultimately, she did agree.
“Alright, Gai, what about your students?”
“Neji’s heart is occupied by clan politics, and Tenten is a mystery. Rock Lee, on the other hand, appears to have a sizable crush on Sakura Haruno.” the taijutsu master informed.
Who even were Anko’s students?! No one knew anything about them, save for the hokage and Anko. If he had to bet money, he’d wager she’d killed them the first day on the job, and that’s why no one had heard from them since they graduated from the academy.
“Honestly, Kakashi, I think your students are the problem.” Anko laughed, slapping her knee as if she’d said the funniest thing in the world.
Kakashi was not amused.
See, he knew, statistically speaking, that out of all the genin teams, his was the most.. troublesome. He had a mentally ill heir to a dead clan, a jinchuriki who hadn’t been housebroken yet, and a girl from a civilian upbringing tossed onto a team together. It could have only ended in disaster from the get go.
However, that was his team she was talking about, and if the jonin hadn’t had an iron grip on his anger, he might have growled at her for insulting his kids-er, uhm, students.
Yes. He’d meant students. Nothing else. Nope.
“Honestly, she may be onto something. Ino and Sakura only had a rivalry because of Sasuke, Kiba’s only ever gotten into little alpha challenges because of Naruto provoking him, and Rock Lee only fought with Sasuke because he saw the kid as competition for Sakura’s affections.” Kurenai theorized.
Kakashi wished he had been the one to get crushed by that boulder instead of Obito. He would have died peacefully, never having had to become a jonin instructor to begin with.
~~~
Even though he’d been caught in the act of his nightly watches on the rooftop across from Sasuke’s apartment several times, Naruto still kept at it.
He still hadn’t gotten around to explaining his reasons for it, as he didn’t want to bring up any unnecessary fears the omega may have left over from the traumatic events a week and a half ago. He probably should though, because Sasuke was beginning to grow impatient with him.
Naruto liked it when Sasuke got impatient with him. It usually ended in a pretty awesome fight, and as proud he was of himself for beating Sasuke half of the time, he was equally proud of Sasuke for beating him in their fight just as much.
Sasuke’s window was left open, Naruto noticed as he set up camp for the evening. Naruto wasn’t a fan of the Uchiha’s decision, mainly because his fanmclub would be able to catch a whiff of his scent in the morning when they inevitably came to mob the front of his apartment complex, trying to get a hold of the genin.
But, as temperatures rose as the season turned to midsummer, Naruto wouldn’t begrudge Sasuke for wanting better air flow in his home as he slept.
Now that it was quiet and the Uzumaki only had the moon for company, he began to think about the events of the past few days.
Sakura had seemed to have gotten over whatever had made her mad at him, and she’d even bought him some Ichi raku ramen! He was glad to have his friend back, his team was pretty much all he had, and the tense atmosphere had been really difficult for him.
But the main thing that Naruto focused on was Sasuke.
They’d kissed. Twice!! And had even held hands when they’d watched the stars together!
A warm, gooey feeling spread throughout his chest as he remembered the feel of Sasuke’s lips on his, and his hand can still feel the ghost of Sasuke’s hand in his. The omega’s fingers fit perfectly laced with his own, and his skin was calloused from years of hard work, yet also surprisingly gentle in his grasp.
They reflected the complexity of Sasuke in the simplest, and most unexpected way, and Naruto found himself chasing after Sasuke’s touch whenever he could get it.
The alpha couldn’t remember a time before his weird thing with Sasuke where he was allowed to touch someone. Naruto hadn’t noticed how lonely his skin had felt, before the grounding weight of Sasuke’s touch had found him.
He wanted to be the best, most powerful and awesome version of himself so that he would never chase Sasuke away. That’s why he needed to succeed and become hokage! So that he could always keep Sasuke safe, as repayment for the hope and care the omega had shown him.
A smile broke out onto the blonde’s face right as a low cry sounded from across the pathway, coming right from inside Sasuke’s apartment. In an instant, Naruto surged forward, not caring that he scraped his ankle on the roof’s ledge in his haste to get to Sasuke.
Ugh! He’d been so stupid, getting distracted when he should have been paying attention to his surroundings! What if Itachi had come back to finish the job, or Orochimaru’s goons had come to whisk Sasuke away to some gross, damp cave and like possess his body or something equally creepy or-
Naruto froze after he climbed into the window, not feeling any new chakra signatures, only Sasuke’s strong, tumultuous one. It was too dark to trust his eyes, so he scented the air to be sure, and found no one. He squinted, in the dark, and found Sasuke sitting up in his bed, holding his head in his hands.
The blonde stepped closer, churning out a refreshing wave of his tangy orange scent to alert Sasuke that he was there, in case the Uchiha was disoriented from sleep. Sasuke looked up, and with the small glow of light from the moon to guide him, Naruto made his way slowly, deliberately to his teammate.
“Sasuke…?”
The genin in question bristled for a second, and Naruto got ready to jump back if Sasuke lashed out, but the omega’s body language relaxed. The alpha’s knees were nearly touching the soft, fluffy mattress, and he desperately wanted to climb into the omega’s nest and hold him and make sure he was okay, but he wasn’t sure on how to proceed.
Iruka sensei had explained to him that alphas couldn’t just waltz into an omega’s nest, unless they were still a child, but Sasuke was also obviously not in his verbal mindset to be able to tell him if it was okay to enter the nest.
What was he supposed to do? Ignore the unspoken rules of nests and jump in and give Sasuke a hug, or stand there, waiting for permission that might not come in a timely manner?
His dilemma was solved, however, because Sasuke’s pale, shaky arm shot out and yanked him into the nest with surprising force, uncaring of the way Naruto toppled into the arrangement of blankets and pillows.
It was very reminiscent of the first time Naruto had been yanked into one of Sasuke’s nests, back when the Uchiha had first presented. Except, now he knew proper nest decorum and knew how to read Sasuke well enough to know what he preferred.
The blonde slowly settled beside the omega, purposefully staying cautious in his movements so that Sasuke wouldn’t be startled and bared his neck. Apparently, that wasn’t common for an alpha to do, especially for an omega, as Shikamaru had told him, but it felt natural to let Sasuke bury his face in his neck and rub his nose against his scent glands.
To Naruto, it felt like they were communicating something that both of them were too proud to say out loud.
Sasuke surged forward like Konohamaru did right before he was about to cry and latch onto someone, still a bit shaky in his movements, and nuzzled the blonde’s glands. Lightning and oranges intertwined in the air and filled the apartment with what had become the pair’s favorite scent. Sasuke let out a shuddery breath against his warm skin, and Naruto rolled them over so that he was holding Sasuke.
“Bad dream?” he asked, keeping his voice low, but still allowing his concern to bleed through.
The omega in his arms nodded wordlessly and somehow burrowed deeper into Naruto’s body. It weirded him out. The dream must have done a number on his rival, because never in a million years would Sasuke act so.. defenseless. Something must have truly upset him.
“Itachi.” The Uchiha breathed. His voice held none of its usual confidence and certainty. Instead, it was a hollow, half whisper, half anxious whimper.
The Uzumaki held back a growl at the mention of that bastard and tried to stop himself from letting his arms tighten around the other. If he ever crossed paths with him again, he would rip the oldest Uchiha to shreds with his teeth and dance around his corpse in victory. It wasn’t fair that Sasuke was the one to suffer at the hands of someone he was supposed to be able to love and trust.
“He can’t hurt you here. I won’t let him.” Naruto muttered reassuringly, meaning every single word of it, and making sure that Sasuke understood the unspoken swear that he would die before he let Itachi near him.
Sasuke didn’t respond, and the blonde knew not to expect a response. Sasuke wasn’t much of a talker on a good day, when he was deeply troubled and apprehensive? Pft, fat chance of more than a two word sentence.
Instead of filling the silence, which was his first instinct to do because Naruto absolutely despised quiet rooms, he held the other boy, letting the omega hold onto him as tightly as he wanted, and tried to make his presence as calm as he could. He did pump out quite a bit of his scent though, mostly hoping it would cheer Sasuke up, but also because he thought it might help the other relax enough to go back to sleep.
Sasuke never seemed to get enough sleep, in Naruto’s opinion. He’d never say that out loud though, he’d be a hypocrite if he voiced such a petty concern. They were shinobi, they didn’t need sleep.
…but still, Sasuke deserved more than a few extra hours of sleep. He worked himself too hard. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just how the omega was.
Boy, Naruto sure was glad that Sasuke couldn’t read thoughts.
A glance down at the less shaky boy gave Naruto the impression that Sasuke had fallen back to sleep. With a sigh of relief, and a silent cry of agony because his arm had fallen asleep while trapped under Sasuke’s side, Naruto closed his eyes.
He could get used to this. Not the whole ‘Sasuke having nightmares’ stuff, but the holding him in the Uchiha’s nest, and the scenting, and the falling asleep together.
“You shouldn’t be stalking my window at night, Loser.”
Naruto would be lying if he said he didn’t jump a little. He could have sworn Sasuke had gone back to sleep, how had he managed to be still for that long while being awake!
“I- Well you shouldn't have your window open at night!” The blonde countered stubbornly.
“Oh? And why not? Do you not think I’m capable of taking care of myself?”
“NO-I-wait a second! Don’t go flipping it on me! You’re the one who goes to sleep with a safety hazard right in front of where your bed is!”
“Weird, I wouldn’t have thought you’d care about safety hazards, seeing as you have milk in your refrigerator from three and a half years ago.”
“I- That’s beside the point! Milk can’t attack me, but people can attack you!” Sasuke recoiled, as if bitten, the moment Naruto’s words left his mouth.
The room went quiet again, and Naruto knew he’d screwed up. Sasuke had a lot on his plate, with Itachi, the curse mark, Orochimaru’s threat looming over his head, and Naruto throwing that in his face when he was already scared, and upset didn’t help.
“Sasuke, wait, I’m sorry-”
“Save it idiot, just go, I can handle myself.” Sasuke muttered darkly as he turned away from the confused and apologetic alpha.
Naruto sat upright, and tugged Sasuke to him. Of course, Sasuke did his best impression of a feral cat and swatted and clawed at his arms for manhandling him, but it wasn’t the first time Naruto had been in the crossfire of one of Sasuke’s scratching fits, so he continued to pull Sasuke closer.
“I’m not going anywhere.” The blonde whispered when he finally managed to trap Sasuke in his arms. He wasn’t really trapped, obviously. There wasn’t a person alive that could make Sasuke do anything he wasn’t okay with.
“I’m never gonna leave you, especially not when you need me.” he added for good measure.
For the third time that night, silence fell upon them, and Naruto took it as a good sign. Sasuke was stiff in his arms, still, but he’d warm up to the hug soon enough. He just needed time.
“Naruto,” Sasuke breathed out, “what are we?”
Blue eyes met dark ones, and Naruto paused to think.
They were teammates. Rivals too. Fellow Shinobi. Ex fiances- did it count if Sasuke had never actually said yes to his proposal? Hopefully future packmates.
… something in the back of his mind lit up at the ‘mate’ part of packmates.
“Uh, well, we’re people-”
Sasuke pulled away again, this time to glare at the alpha, and yeah, okay, he kinda deserved that. “Obviously, moron.” the Uchiha snapped. The lightning scent of the air tinged with a smokey, fiery undertone, and Naruto could almost feel the annoyance rolling off of him.
“Okay, well fine!” The alpha huffed, “Since you seem to know everything, why don't you tell me what we are!”
Their back and forth was familiar. The name calling, the retorts, it all felt safe and established, and it brought comfort to the Uzumaki as they tried to figure out where they stood. He’d never had to do that before with anyone. Usually, he was the butt of a joke, or some annoyance that no one tolerated, so he knew where he fit with most people. With Sasuke, their relationship just kept changing and growing and it left Naruto confused every time it changed. Their dynamics had switched and swapped so many times that he’d lost count.
“We’ve kissed.. several times..” Now it was Sasuke’s turn to be awkward. If the room were properly lit, Naruto had a theory that Sasuke’s usually reserved facial expression would be scrunched up in thought.
It made the alpha want to kiss him again.
“So..?” Naruto drawled, enjoying that for once he wasn’t the one put on the spot.
Sasuke shrugged, “I guess we’re dating.”
Naruto thought back on the last few days and how they’d watched the stars together, trained together, and walked each other home. Yeah. Dating. That sounded right.
“Does this mean your fan club will finally get off your back?” Naruto teased, burying his face in Sasuke’s hair to leave a chaste kiss there.
“Oh, not even close. If anything, they’ll probably kill you in your sleep.” The Uchiha remarked flippantly, making the alpha gulp.
Naruto wasn’t scared of some silly girls with an obsessive crush on his boyfriend.
He was terrified of them.
~~~
Sasuke woke up with Naruto’s hands tangled in his hair, and a puddle of drool on his shoulder from where the alpha had fallen asleep behind him. His boyfriend had drooled on him in his sleep. Ugh, memories of the previous night danced around in his mind, and Sasuke groaned silently.
Had he been drugged? Surely, something had to have been slipped into his afternoon tea for him to get that..candid with the blonde over their relationship. They had a label now. None of that back and forth, beating around the bush stuff.
Sasuke was man enough to admit that he was getting a tiny smidge of cold feet as the realization hit him that soon people would know and people knowing that he was romantically involved with Naruto meant that there was intel to be gathered by his enemies. He’d been reckless, and foolish, and stupid and-
The omega couldn’t help the small smile that graced his lips as Naruto unconsciously mumbled out a- way too lustfully pronounced, in Sasuke’s opinion, “Ramen!” in his sleep.
It was early, he noticed as he carefully maneuvered himself out of the Uzumaki’s slumbered hold. The birds haven’t even woken up to begin their usual annoying chirping, and the sun’s rays are cold, not yet warm enough to wake up the sky just yet.
Naruto let out a particularly loud snore, and Sasuke wondered silently how he could have possibly managed to sleep through that. Sasuke didn’t allow himself to smile.
How could he? Flashes of scenes that weren’t fictional enough to be considered a nightmare were running around in his brain, not allowing him to push them away after the dream he’d had last night. Not that it could even be considered a dream. No, it was a memory.
No matter how close he got with Naruto, or how he allowed the other genin to befriend him and keep him busy, his goal would haunt him. Nothing was safe from his past, not even his future.
Even if he’d decided to try and get past his fears of Itachi’s looming presence, and continue his life as normal, there would still be the shadow of darkness, waiting to taint anything he’d built for himself until there was neither dark nor light in his life, only grey.
Sasuke got out of bed and cast one last long look at the alpha, before making his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. It didn’t take him long, as the omega prided himself on his efficiency, and headed to the door to leave.
Naruto was still snoring away, lost to the world when he closed the door behind him, and that time, Sasuke let himself smile.
He needed to clear his head, he decided as he crept down the dim hallway to the stairwell. Training with Hinata would be starting soon, if the clock on the wall displayed the correct time, so he decided to make his way to the training fields early.
Walking through the village when everyone was still asleep was eerie, but the omega was used to it. He’d snuck into the closed off Uchiha compound enough to be comfortable with having his skin prick as he stalked down silent, gloomy corridors and pathways.
The only difference here was, Sasuke didn’t see dead bodies when he rounded the corners of empty streets in Konoha.
With his hands in his pockets, he tilted his face to the sky. He had an inkling that it would rain, most likely later, probably towards the afternoon, after the heat had caused enough moisture to circulate in the air.
Contrary to what the rumors spread by his fan club stated, he was not fond of the rain. Rain was the most common reason why he had to cancel his plans to train, or even worse, when Naruto occasionally caught a cold from playing in the rain, because of course he still played in the rain, and made missions an absolute hell until he was healthy again.
Naruto’s sneezes alone had outed them on stealth missions more times than actual skill on their opponent’s end had. It would be amusing almost, if Naruto’s refusal to take care of himself didn’t usually end with Sakura tied up, Kakashi conveniently too engrossed in his book to help, and a knife at Sasuke’s throat.
The enemies never went after Naruto, as they were too scared of catching whatever unholy disease had caused that much snot to shoot out of the blonde’s nose.
Sasuke arrived at the training grounds after a few more minutes of walking in silence and decided to run through some of his own warmups and routines while he waited for Hinata.
The sun hadn’t yet peeked over the treetops when he began to run through the movements and stances, and by the time he had finished his last shuriken jutsu, the sun had towered over the trees.
Hinata was late.
Hinata was never late. She was never early. She was always strictly on time, which was one of the things Sasuke enjoyed about her. She hadn’t told him that she was going to be away on a mission either.
Sasuke couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, so he gathered up his equipment, and left the training fields. As he made his way to the Hyuuga compound to check on Hinata, Sasuke couldn’t help but worry.
The omega girl was just as driven as Naruto when it came to training. There was no way she would just decide to skip practice for the day, and she was way too nice to not alert him if something came up and she couldn’t attend.
The Uchiha made sure that the walk to Hinata’s house was brisk, and he wasted no time knocking on the door with heavy yet precise knocks, after he took the stairs two at a time.
There was no response, causing Sasuke to tap his foot impatiently against the wooden deck. Just as he was about to knock again, Neji Hyuuga opened the door, glaring as he did so. “Is there a reason you are here?” The alpha asked coldly.
If Sasuke had hackles, they would have risen at the tone of the older boy’s voice. He sounded devoid of everything. It reminded him of-
“Hinata was late to training.” Sasuke bit back, just as coolly. He looked away to examine his fingernails, feigning nonchalance, but knowing the alpha saw right through it. Neji chuckled sarcastically, like he was in on a joke that Sasuke wasn’t even aware of.
“Lady Hinata will no longer be attending your.. practices. She has decided to continue a more rigorous, enlightening training.”
Sasuke didn’t even need to activate his sharingan to see through the older boy’s words.
“Hmm,” the Uchiha sounded in mock consideration, “and Hinata was the one to make that decision?”
He knew damn well she wasn’t. Often, she would lament on how horrible the Hyuuga training processes were, and that she preferred Sasuke’s strict but fluid methods. There was no way she would go back on her words. She wasn’t that kind of person.
Neji continued to stare at the Uchiha, and not for the first time, Sasuke resented the fact that Neji was taller than him. It reminded him of Itachi and he hated it.
“Lady Hinata’s father wishes for her to be trained by me from now on."
He may not care about gossip, but he would be an idiot to not know about the Hyuuga and their nearly abusive training methods. While, yes, Sasuke prided himself on being a strict trainer, he also cared about Hinata’s growth. That’s why he’d agreed to practice with her in the first place.
Neji didn’t care about helping Hinata improve her skills, he hated her, and everyone could tell. Sasuke knew why, it was obvious to those that had been born into traditional clans.
He was an alpha, a prodigy, and the oldest of the main family’s new generation, even if he were from the branch family. Neji should have been the heir to their clan if common sense were anything to go by. But it wasn't, and the alpha had grown bitter.
The only reason why Hinata still was considered the heir was because her little sister was still unpresented, and it was obvious that the head of the Hyuuga clan frowned upon her friendship with the sole Uchiha. Their clans had been rivals, once, he'd heard. Sasuke didn't blame his clan one bit, if this was how the Hyuuga treated everyone.
Neji sighed, and gestured in the air haughtily before adding, “Due to your,” Neji paused and pointedly raked his eyes over Sasuke’s form, “unrefined training, Lady Hinata Is months behind where she should be. The Hyuuga have our own way. I suggest you stay in your lane.” The Hyuuga prodigy spoke distastefully, as if Sasuke was beneath him. The Hyuuga crossed his arms and raised a brow in a silent challenge.
Sasuke wasn’t above taking that challenge.
“Oh, is that right?”, Sasuke didn’t budge, and refused to break the intense eye contact, “Because the way I see it, I had to train her because the Hyuuga methods were so..unrefined”
Maybe he shouldn’t have insulted the guy’s clan, while standing in the center of the Hyuuga clan’s compound, while fighting over who got to train the heir to the clan but seeing the way Neji bristled brought out a dark, twisted sense of satisfaction in him that made him want to antagonize the alpha further.
“Careful, Uchiha, as it stands, I am the strongest Hyuuga of this era. You are simply the only Uchiha in comparison. I am obviously a better fit to be Lady Hinata’s mentor.”
Neji’s cool demeanor shifted to a more sinister, analytical one, and Sasuke knew that this would end in a fist fight.
“And yet, the Hyuuga’s most talented member got his ass handed to him by Konoha’s most unskilled genin in the chunin exams.” Sasuke hadn’t been there, but he’d heard how the fight went from Shikamaru, so he knew how embarrassing Neji’s defeat was.
Sasuke shouldn’t care this much. It was just practice with Hinata, after all, but being replaced by Neji felt like a personal attack on his own skills and talents. From the moment the chunin exams had begun, there were whispers that no one would dare admit to uttering, questioning and predicting how Sasuke would fare in the exams compared to his brother. He knew Hinata had suffered from the same bets and gambles, only with Neji being her challenge to overcome.
Maybe that was why Sasuke felt bitter. He and Hinata would always be the stand ins, the lesser versions, and Itachi and Neji would always loom over them, no matter how much they trained and how many new jutsu they obtained.
The fact that they were both alphas did not help the power imbalance.
Sasuke’s eyes activated at the same time Neji’s did.
“You sure you want to do this?” Sasuke smirked, easing into a defensive stance.
Neji huffed coldly, “If it convinces you that an Uchiha does not belong in the training process of a Hyuuga, so be it.” The alpha brought his hand forward and poised his other to attack in the traditional Hyuuga method.
Too bad Sasuke had grown very familiar with the fighting style thanks to Hinata. When Neji dove forward, Sasuke used the alpha’s weight against him and flipped himself over, using his hand to balance his weight by anchoring it to the Hyuuga’s shoulder.
Right as his toes touched the dusty ground, Neji spun around and jabbed at one of Sasuke’s chakra points, but not before Sasuke could send a kick to the alpha’s ribcage. The force from the kick knocked Neji back a few feet and allowed Sasuke time to assess the damage to his chakra path in his right arm.
It was a setback, but only a tiny one. Sasuke would just need to get a bit creative with his attacks.
With no hesitation, Sasuke lunged.