だって君だけが インだもん -You’re my one and only love-

Shiomi & Shirohane 作

“…and so, this is the person who will be assigned the duty to protect you from now on.”

A black-haired child with dark eyes skeptically glanced over the blonde nervously smiling at him. The boy’s eyes met with the other boy’s big blue eyes, and the eyes widened before they lowered to the floor, as if in shock. The boy narrowed his eyes, then turned his head away.

“Don’t need him.”

“Sasuke!” Kakashi scolded. He sighed and rested his head on his hands, leaning over to meet his eyes with Sasuke’s. “Look, Sasuke, it’s not like we’re doubting your skills as a ninja. You’re a wonderful shinobi; it is not a mystery why everyone is calling you a genius. Even so, you’re only fifteen. Not only as your bodyguard and protector, but Naruto Oniichan will take care of you in place of a guardian, okay? Give him a month. If you feel that you can’t get along with him, you can request another protector.”

“I’ve had had enough with my real brother; I don’t need a pseudo-brother that will act disgustingly nice to me just because he feels sorry for me. I don’t need anyone’s sympathy. Besides, it’s bothersome if someone constantly trails after me,” Sasuke said. He yelped when he felt a sharp rap against his head. Holding his head in his hands, he glared up at the offender. Naruto, his hands resting on his hips, glared back at him.

“No one is feeling sorry for you, okay, brat? This is a job! I only intend to step in if you’re in some kind of mortal danger, so you can forget about me acting like a loving brother; just thinking about having a brat like you for a little brother makes me sick!”

“You keep your mouth shut, loser. If your mission is to baby-sit a ‘brat’ like me, you must be a total failure as an anbu member. They should just fire you.”

“What did you say?”

“Guys, guys,” Kakashi interrupted. “Naruto, what was Iruka-sensei telling you again?”

Naruto pouted, but lowered his head and mumbled, “To do my best in every mission.”

“That’s right. And Sasuke, what were the conditions that allowed you to live by myself?”

Sasuke scowled and stood up. “Hn. Do whatever you want.”

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Sasuke walked out of the room. Naruto hurriedly trailed after him. Sasuke suddenly stopped walking and spun around so quickly that Naruto nearly ran into him. He skidded to a stop, waving his hands rather comically in the air to keep his balance as Sasuke jabbed his chest.

“Stay at least five meters away from me, dead-last.”

“You… You brat!”

“Hn.”

Sasuke ignored Naruto as he followed him, screeching about something or other about respecting one’s elders and other nonsense like that. He won’t trust anyone from now on. Even his family member couldn’t be trusted; how could he leave his life up to a complete stranger? From birth to death, he was alone, and he intended it to stay that way. The annoying anbu member that was currently following him was only a hindrance and he would find a way to chase him off, one way or other. Until then, he would just have to bear with the idiot.

---

“Sasuke! Sasuke, eat breakfast! Sasuke!”

Sasuke twitched. Six in the morning was not time for breakfast. It was time to sleep. Because of his low blood pressure, Sasuke never was a morning person, and if his sleep was interrupted, anyone who knew him at least a little would know to run for their lives. Not Naruto. When Sasuke glared at the insides of his blanket and did not respond, Naruto rushed into his room and pulled open the curtains, then pulled the blanket off of Sasuke. Sasuke wondered what he would be charged with if he stabbed Naruto with a kunai. Could he say that it was done out of self-defense?

“Sasuke, your breakfast is going to get cold! Sasuke!”

“Shut up and get out!” Sasuke snapped, trying to get his blanket back. Naruto grabbed Sasuke’s cheeks and forced him to meet eyes with him.

“Uchiha Sasuke, I got up at five thirty in the morning to make breakfast for you, and you are going to eat it. Now.”

“…”

Because it was tiring to argue with a moron, especially so early in the morning, Sasuke made a face that showed his feelings all too clearly and washed and dressed himself, then followed Naruto out into the kitchen. He had no idea why Naruto had to live with him. Anyway, wasn’t seventeen too young to be a guardian? Sasuke plopped down into a sit and picked up his chopsticks.

“Say ‘thank you for the meal’, Sasuke.”

Sasuke’s expression got further displeased, but he obediently clapped his hands together and muttered ‘thank you for the meal’ along with Naruto. Then he surveyed the side dishes and put down his chopsticks.

“…What? Why aren’t you eating?” Naruto asked, already his mouth full of food. Sasuke pointed at the food.

“You want me to eat this!”

Rice with eggs, miso soup, umeboshi, and natto. Naruto couldn’t boast his cooking skills, but the food he made was definitely edible, and everything was fresh and newly cooked, so it tasted good. Naruto followed Sasuke’s fingers and studied the food, then lifted his head up and said, “So?”

“So? I hate natto! I refuse to eat natto! And the eggs aren’t even cooked; don’t put raw eggs in someone’s rice! I don’t like umeboshi and miso, either!”

Then what do you eat? Naruto wanted to snap at him. Instead he numbly asked, “…And you call yourself Japanese?”

“Whatever, I’m not eating!”

“Stop throwing tantrum over your food! If you want to grow big and strong, you have to eat everything without being picky! Sit and eat!”

“I’m taller than you anyway. I’m not eating this,” Sasuke growled, standing up. Naruto grabbed his hand, pulling him back to the table. Sasuke shook the hand off, but he must have pushed too hard because Naruto fell back into his chair and as he was waving his hands to try to steady himself, he upset the table and the food were knocked to the ground. With horrible crashing sounds, the bowls and dishes cracked into tiny pieces all over the kitchen floor.

“…”

Sasuke felt a pang of guilt. He was being unreasonable; there was no possible way that Naruto knew what kind of food he liked. Naruto got up so early in the morning to cook for him and he just wasted everything… Leaning down he started to help Naruto pick up the broken pieces. He anxiously glanced at Naruto’s face and was surprised to find him crying. Naruto was silently crying, biting his lips so that no sound escaped. His long golden eyelashes and big blue eyes were soaked with tears, and fresh, pearly droplets of tears continued to roll down his cheeks. Somehow the sight made his heart clench painfully. It felt strange. Sasuke wordlessly helped Naruto clean up, then quickly left the house. Naruto didn’t follow him.

---

Sasuke felt like a lead was weighing down his stomach all day. He knew Naruto was following him from distance, because he occasionally saw flashes of golden hair even without using his sharingan. Naruto should learn to hide his presence better. For an anbu member, to be discovered so easily by a mere chuunin like himself was rather shameful. Anyway, golden hair was too noticeable and flashy; even if the color was natural, Naruto should dye his hair if he wanted to remain a shinobi. It wasn’t like he was strong enough to be okay with a handicap. But the small round face drenched with tears kept flashing before his mind, making his heart contract painfully every time he thought about what happened this morning.

‘I have to apologize,’ he thought, before being disgusted with himself. Why should he care if that crybaby whined or not? It was his fault for messing around with his life in the first place. Who wanted a bodyguard anyway? If anything, Sasuke was sure that when crisis arose, he would be the one that would save the clumsy and crybaby anbu.

“…”

Sasuke surveyed his surroundings and noted the flash of orange and yellow at the corner of his vision. He leaned down, then suddenly dropped down from the tree he had been leaning against, using the leaves to cover himself. Then using shadow replication he left his clone running down the tree and disappearing around the corner, while he stayed hidden in a blind spot behind the tree. There was a silence, then he saw Naruto running down from an electricity pole he had been sitting on, following Sasuke at a distance. He made so much noise that even a child would know that he was being followed, and Sasuke swallowed his laughter. He was an idiot to the bone after all.

There was no time to waste—even if Naruto didn’t look like it, he was an anbu member; it won’t be long before he realized that he was chasing a mere clone. Sasuke kept to the shadows of the houses and stayed close to the wall, then lightly jogged to the flower shop. The bell hanging over the door jingled merrily when he entered the shop.

“Welcome—Oh my, Sasuke-kun! What brings you here?” Ino said, smiling as she looked up from wrapping up flower bouquets. Her smile became slyer as she added, “And wipe that grin off your face.”

“What grin?” Sasuke retorted, looking around the small shop. His eyes rested on small pots of plants sunning themselves on the windowsill. He gingerly picked one up—the cool texture of the pottery felt smooth but familiar against his hands.

“I’ve never seen you look so happy before. You always look like you got something stuck up your rear—”

She laughed and dodged as Sasuke swung his fist mockingly above her.

“And you’re buying that for someone special, aren’t you?”

“I did something wrong, so… It’s only for apology,” Sasuke said, placing the pot on the counter. Ino wrapped the pot with light yellow cloth for him, tying few ribbons around it for good measure. Sasuke paid for the plant and ignored Ino’s questions and teases as he left the store. And directly bumped into frenzied Naruto.

“Oh! There you are, Sasuke! Why did you…!”

Naruto’s words were cut off when Sasuke thrust the item he had just bought at Naruto’s face. Naruto’s big eyes got even bigger as he questioningly looked at the pot of yellow baby roses.

“…What?”

“Take it.”

Naruto obediently took the roses away from Sasuke, but he still looked at Sasuke questioningly. Sasuke hesitated, then looked at the ground as he mumbled, “…About this morning… It was my fault.”

“Eh…”

“I’ll eat everything tomorrow… If you’re still… going to cook tomorrow, that is…”

Sasuke nervously glanced at Naruto, not sure what kind of expression he would see. But he did not expect to see such a bright smile gracing Naruto’s lips, nor did he expect to see his blue eyes light up so brilliantly that it resembled sparkling summer ocean.

“Thank you Sasuke!”

“Ah… Eh…”

Sasuke found himself uncharacteristically stammering as Naruto beamed, holding a small pot of yellow roses that shone with morning dewdrops, as brilliantly as little bits of diamonds. But the beauty of roses were overshadowed by Naruto’s smile, which made his cherry-colored lips curve up in a nearly perfect half-circle and produced a dimple in his left cheek. Somehow Sasuke found it difficult to breath.

“I’ll be right back after I leave this at the apartment, so wait here, okay?” Naruto said. Sasuke found himself numbly nodding. Why? This was a great opportunity to ditch him and run away! But Naruto’s smile had somehow became a binding chains that Sasuke couldn’t refuse, and he obediently waited until Naruto came back to head to the central to get information for his new mission.

---

The mission, despite being simple, took surprisingly long time, and both Naruto and Sasuke were tired by the time they returned to Sasuke’s apartment. When Sasuke got out of the showers, he noticed Naruto tenderly wiping the leaves of the rose bush with soft bit of cloth, a cup of water next to him. Because Sasuke didn’t expect Naruto to be good at taking care of plants he was rather surprised, but more than that he felt a strange feeling. Instead of paying attention to the rose bush, he wanted Naruto to pay attention to him. …Wasn’t this what people called ‘jealousy’?

Shaking his head, Sasuke climbed out of the window and headed to the top branch of the tree that grew outside the window. He had balcony and he could’ve went to the rooftop, too, but he preferred to sit by himself on the tree. He quietly stared at the twinkling stars as he thought about the day. He was confused about Naruto. He no longer found him annoying, but he wasn’t sure if he liked the changed feeling. Naruto was well-known as clumsiest anbu member around, and there were whisperings that if he wasn’t so powerful because of the kyuubi locked away within him, he wouldn’t have been even chosen as an anbu member in the first place. He often heard about how obnoxious and stupid he was, but…

Obnoxious? The boy who got up early in the morning just to make food for another person? The person who smiled so happily at a small gift and cherished it? The person who got upset when Sasuke got few light cuts during the mission and had insisted on disinfecting and bandaging all the little scars?

‘But the feelings I have towards him isn’t ‘respect’. It isn’t even ‘affectionate’. What do you call this feeling…’

“Sasuke!”

Sasuke looked down as Naruto climbed the tree after him, holding two mugs in his free hand. It looked dangerous, so Sasuke took the mugs from Naruto and helped him up. Naruto was surprisingly light. Because of the baby fat on his face Sasuke thought he wouldn’t be as light as this, but the body he could feel beneath the fabric felt thin and scrawny. Only when Naruto settled next to him did Sasuke look at the contents of the mug. Because it was night, he couldn’t identify the liquid by sight anyway (it looked like black ink), but by the fragrance he was able to tell that it was hot cocoa.

“You drink hot chocolate, right?” Naruto asked, easily smiling. The moonlight reflected his face so that it looked pearly white. Unlike his lightly tanned, smile-lit face that reminded him of ‘sunflowers’ in the morning, Naruto’s smile at night seemed somehow mysterious, more alluring. It made Sasuke’s heart skip faster, and he was glad that the darkness would hide the redness that would surely be tinting his cheeks by now. “The best thing to consume after tiring mission is something sweet. Drink up, Sasuke.”

Sasuke raised the cup to his lips and slowly drank. He didn’t mention to Naruto that he hated sweets. Why? When did he ever think for anyone except for himself? Even though it was warm night, Naruto was shivering, resting his cheek against the heated surface of the mug. Sasuke gently wrapped his arm around Naruto, drawing the other boy close to himself. Sweet scent of melon and kiwi wafted up from the boy’s hair that looked silvery in the moonlight. Even though he hated sweet things, this smell was pleasant, so Sasuke rested his cheek against the smaller boy’s head. The two spent comfortable silence in each other’s company, sipping the sweet drink they held. It was Sasuke who broke the silence.

“Why did you choose this job? I mean, to protect me.”

“Ahaha… Because… I’ve been watching you for a long time.”

“…Haa?”

“And I thought I wanted to get to know you more, Sasuke.”

Blue eyes lifted upwards to meet his confused black eyes. The blue looked like melted sapphire, swirling with bits of more brilliant blues mixed in the deep blues. It was hypnotizing, and Sasuke felt like he would get sucked in if he stared too long, so he turned his head away. Naruto misinterpreted his action.

“Ah… Sorry, it sounds weird coming from a guy, doesn’t it? Even though I was two classes ahead of you, I always heard about you, about what a genius you are. Because as you said, I graduated in last place at ninja academy and it was really difficult getting the anbu member position, I always admired you from distance.”

Naruto shifted slightly. The scent of melons and kiwis grew stronger.

“And then, one day… When I was finished with mission and I was returning home, I saw you sitting by yourself at the side of the Konoha River. It was like looking at a mirror; I understood what you were feeling completely. Ah, this child is as lonely as I am... He's only acting strong outside, I thought. And then I thought that we weren’t as different as I thought we were, and instead of admiring you from afar, I thought I could actually get to know you. Be friends with you. When opportunity presented itself so that I could spent more time with you… I happily took it. And…”

Sasuke felt his arms tighten around Naruto’s shoulder. Did Naruto notice?

“I’m happy that I got to know you more. You’re a kind person, Sasuke… Even though you’re not honest at all.”

Naruto softly laughed. Sasuke couldn’t mention that he was happy that he got to know Naruto more, too. Instead he said, “I was really upset when they assigned me a bodyguard. I thought, ‘me, an elite blooded Uchiha? Need a bodyguard?’ I thought everyone else was just a bother and a hindrance for me to obtain my greatest goal in my life—to kill Itachi with my own two hands.”

Naruto nodded. Sasuke continued, “Actually I was more disgusted with how people from this village thought. Because I’m the last one of my bloodline, they treat me like an exotic specie of animal that has been on display. They want to keep me safe so that I can marry and have more babies with the Uchiha limited-blood; I’m like a lab rat to them. Instead of thinking about my feelings, they won’t let me join anbu or even take the higher-level ninja test; they just want me to stay nice and quiet and settle down early so I can reproduce more of the so-called genius babies.”

“Sasuke, I don’t think—”

“I don’t want to be known only for my bloodline limits. I don’t want to be only known as ‘that genius kid’. I want to make friends like other normal people and get a job that will make me fill fulfilled and die honorably. I don’t want to be a pretty bird sitting in a cage. Even if I have to be a sparrow among thousands of other sparrows that look just like me, I just wanted to spread my wings and fly across the sky freely.”

Sasuke ran his finger along Naruto’s hair. Even though it was spiky, it felt unbelievably soft. The strands felt like they were wet and were clinging to his fingers as he ran his fingers through the head again and again, and Naruto stayed still while Sasuke patted him. Then Sasuke used both of his arms to hold Naruto tightly against himself. “You’re the first to look at me as ‘Sasuke’, Naruto…”

“Oniichan.”

“Haa?”

“Naruto Oniichan! I’m older than you!”

Sasuke snickered as Naruto squirmed and rubbed his cheek against Naruto’s hair. The boy’s sweet scent was starting to become overwhelming. Perhaps it was because it was full moon tonight. Sasuke felt like he was out of his mind. That was probably why he spun the older boy around and kissed his lips. In the moonlight, hidden by darkness, Naruto’s eyes became wide. Sasuke saw the numerous stars reflected in his clean blue orbs. Then Naruto’s eyes closely closed and Sasuke closed his eyes, too, concentrating on the supple, pouty lips trapped underneath his own. When he allowed Naruto’s lips to part from his, Naruto looked up at him with his big eyes again, his full lips glistening in the silvery moonlight, so Sasuke kissed him again. And again. Naruto didn’t resist.

---

“So how are you two getting along? Do you think you can stay together until Itachi has been found and Sasuke’s safety can be confirmed?” Iruka asked, his usual kind smile on his face. Sasuke, whose skin somehow seemed to glow brighter and brighter as days wore on, wrapped his arm around Naruto’s waist and pulled him closer.

With a satisfied smirk, Sasuke said, “Even after Itachi’s been found, I’m going to live with him.”

“Oh? You two must be getting along really well!” Iruka said, delighted. “Is Naruto Oniichan being very nice to you, Sasuke?”

Naruto’s face suddenly became a bright red as Sasuke happily nodded. Then Sasuke said, “May I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead, Sasuke. What is it?”

“We can legally get married when we’re eighteen, right?”

“Right. Unless you get a consent from the parents or current guardian, you can’t get married until eighteen.”

“So just wait three more years, Naruto,” Sasuke said, affectionately kissing the top of Naruto’s head.

“…”

Iruka suddenly looked gray and he froze, as if he had turned into a stone statue. Naruto pouted and pushed Sasuke away. “Naruto Oniichan! Call me Naruto Oniichan! Anyway, I didn’t say I’m going to marry you.”

“But you didn’t say no.”

“Can we talk about this once you’re eighteen? Look, I have to go do my mission now, so stay home until I get back, okay? I’m still your bodyguard so if you get into any trouble, I'm the one who's in a deep shit.”

“Then I’ll make your favorite miso ramen so come home early, okay? ”

“Really? You mean that?”

As Sasuke and Naruto did perfect imitation of newly wedded couple that would make anyone around them develop cavities and walked out of the room, Iruka slowly dropped the pen that he had been holding. Then Iruka started to frantically search for an aspirin.

So will you be the one and only guardian of my heart forever?

---

-The End -
I somehow feel like I took Shiomi-sama's wonderful idea and completely messed it up. I'm so sorry. I just wanted to see overly sweet lovey-dovey older-Naruto and younger-Sasuke story. I kind of gagged in the middle of writing it, but... (Hey.)

The idea for this story had been provided by Shiomi-sama; thank you very much! Please look for her fan fiction at ff dot net, too! VvvVV

As for the title... A...ha...hahahaha... -) I'm sorry, that's the limit of my pun skills... No, that's not even a pun... What is that gross splatter of stars and hearts (kimochi warui! TvT)... Aaaaaaa my naming skills are... really, really... OTL