A/N: Last chapter...whew! I wanna say it was a blast, but I think that my next one - if there is a next one - will be much more involved and better written. I know this one got rough at times, but it was my first story that went over one chapter. Thank you for reading it, you all are awesome!

Revenge and Afterward

Chapter 15:
Compromise Isn't So Bad, After all...

The streets were crowded with people. The festival was proving to bring every one of the villagers into the attractions, except Sasuke and Naruto. The two were sitting on the couch, cuddled into each other, flipping through the channels on the television. Sasuke, who was holding the remote, wasn’t settling on a channel for more than seven-point-three seconds – Naruto was keeping track.

Naruto stood up and stretched before walking to the kitchen. Mid-way through drinking milk from the carton, something he was sure Sasuke had yelled at him for dozens of times, he saw a renegade balloon travel past their window. If he listened close enough, he could hear the faint cry from the child who previously owned said balloon. His cerulean eyes settled on his boyfriend, who was slouched down in the couch lazily channel flipping. The boredom was slowly sinking into his face and his onyx eyes kept darting to the window every once in a while.

The blonde sighed, knowing he was being mean to his lover. He was keeping the older teen hostage in the apartment just because he was too scared to face the villagers. He was keeping the boy kept inside, almost as if the stoic teen was still under house arrest. It wasn’t right to deny the teen a festival, especially since Naruto was pretty sure Sasuke didn’t usually go to them. It wasn’t right to deny the teen something innocent he wanted.

Cerulean eyes flickered to the clock on the wall. Five-thirty in the evening. The festival itself had been going on for a half an hour. Sasuke’s eyes darted from the window to the television again. Sitting in this house was killing him, and Naruto knew it.

He put the milk back in the fridge and leaned against the cold counter. Running his hands through his hair, he leaned his head back against the cabinet. What if Sasuke and Tsunade were right? What if they didn’t think of him as only the Kyuubi-container? What if he was more to them than just a bad memory?

If that was it, then would they mind if he went to the festival? Would they mind if he celebrated in the downfall of the demon? Even if the demon was inside of him?

With all the questions floating through his head, he had trouble sorting through them. Sparing another look at Sasuke, however, helped him make up his mind. Instead of returning to the couch for another boring session of channel flipping, he detoured to the bedroom. After deciding on clothes that weren’t orange (or, at least, not entirely orange), he headed back to the living room. He stood in the way of Sasuke’s view of the television and scratched the back of his head.

“You, uh, ready to go, ‘suke?”

Sasuke straightened himself slightly, looking his boyfriend up and down. Raising an eyebrow, he dropped the remote on the couch. A simple change of clothes could drastically change Naruto’s overall appearance, and it still shocked Sasuke. Of course he thought Naruto looked good in anything he wore, he’d even been able to see past all the orange, but Naruto looked exceptionally good in white. It just seemed to highlight his tanned skin, bright cerulean eyes, and shockingly blonde hair. Light colors just seemed to spark Naruto’s natural beauty.

Finally remembering the blonde talked to him while he was standing there, he met the bright blue eyes. “Go where?”

“Uh, to the, uh, festival.”

“You – we – decided not to go, Naruto.” Sasuke said, his eyebrow still arched.

“Yeah, but…um…I, uh…” Naruto stuttered, fumbling for his words.

Sasuke stretched and sighed. “We’re fine in here, Naruto.”

Blonde eyebrows furrowed together as he saw Sasuke try to see the television around him. “But you’re not fine! You’re bored!”

“Well, then let’s do something that will make me not bored.” Sasuke said, a devilish grin spreading across his face.

Naruto put his hands on his hips and glared. “That’s not what I meant, bastard! You obviously want to go or you wouldn’t keep staring outside all the time.” Then, dropping his arms to the side, he lowered his voice. “I’m keeping you in here and I don’t want to. You’ve been kept inside long enough, ‘suke. I want to take you out there.”

Sasuke stood up and walked toward the blonde, taking him in his arms. “Naruto, I’m not going to force you, you know. Only go if you truly want to.”

“Have you ever been to this festival before, Sasuke?” Naruto asked, wrapping his arms around Sasuke’s waist.

“Once. When I was little. My mom took me.”

Naruto pulled back, looking into Sasuke’s eyes. “You never talk about her, you know.”

“Not really something I want to relive, dobe.” Sasuke said, his eyes flickering with emotions. Narrowing his eyes at the blonde, he tried to look though the younger teen. Trying for any hidden fear anywhere in there. Sadly, he saw, his eyes were full of it. “I’m not forcing you to go, Whiskers. You make up your own mind.”

Naruto took a deep breath and looked out the window again. It was beginning to get dark, the shops and stands turned their lights on. It made the street shine a rainbow of colors. He looked back at Sasuke with a new determination in his eyes. “I want to go. I wanna give it a shot in hell.”

“If anything happens, Naruto, anything at all, you transform into someone else. Understand?” Sasuke said, his eyes piercing.

“Yup, got it.” Naruto said, nodding.

As they were about to walk through the door, Naruto’s panic was increasing. He kept up a brave face and his determined look, but on the inside he was collapsing. Dread filled him to the brim to the point he thought he’d pass out. He looked at Sasuke and tried to calm his nerves.

I’m okay. Naruto thought. Sasuke’s here, so I’m safe. He’ll protect me.

----

The first person to greet them on the outside was Kiba. With his arm slung over Hinata, they greeted the couple with big smiles. Akamaru was walking with another dog, a female dog, and looked mighty happy. Naruto and Kiba chatted as they all walked down the streets, with Hinata being as silent as usual. When Naruto asked if they were on a date, the poor girl turned the color of a tomato.

Further down the street, they ran into Neji and TenTen who were being followed by a semi-drunk Lee and Sakura. Apparently Lee had mistaken a new fruity mixed drink for a protein-filled energy smoothie and drank it all in one gulp. At this, Sakura rolled her eyes but continued to cling on the boys arm. What surprised everyone most about Lee was his extreme lack of green spandex. The boy was dressed in regular civilian clothes and he almost looked…normal. And, also a surprise, was that Sakura was openly on a date with the formally-green-clad ninja.

Huddled in a group in front of a certain barbecue restaurant were Chouji, Ino, Shikamaru, and Shino. The restaurant looked to be packed, making a very pissed off Chouji. Shikamaru was trying his best to calm him down, using every Chuunin level compromising skill he knew. Sadly, it was Shino who had the final push. He pointed at Naruto and the team turned around and raised an eyebrow.

The blonde was glad when Ayame and Jakken came running up to them, at least the tension wasn’t all on him anymore. Jakken, being as shy as ever, clung to his sister’s arm and looked about as thrilled to be there as a crab would in a seafood restaurant. Naruto felt his pain and tried to talk to the poor boy. When a smile finally settled on the young boy’s face, Naruto felt he’d completed a job well done.

The group, having a collective problem of not knowing what to do first, began walking aimlessly through the village. As it always seems to go, when a large group of teenagers are together for long periods of time, during tense situations, or during festivities of any kind fights to tend to break out. This, unfortunately, was no exception.

First it was Sakura and Ino, who began a ruthless torrent of name-calling all over one stupid question on their favorite brand of lip gloss. What started as a verbal argument of ‘Ino-Pig!’, ‘Billboard Brow!’, ‘Pupil-less Bitch!’, ‘Flat-chested Ten-Year Old Boy!’ soon turned into a fist fight. It took Lee (who quickly sobered up at the display of womanly power) and Shikamaru all their strength to break the girls up. Hell, it took Naruto and Chouji helping the two boys out to get them under control.

Next came the constant arguments Kiba and Naruto seemed to get involved in. No one even knew when this one started, they just knew that those two had this undying need to argue and it gave them all a headache.

Surprisingly enough, no arguments between Sasuke and Naruto broke out, but between Sasuke and Neji was another story. All over Neji asking Naruto how he gained the courage to come out of his house. It was, of course, taken the wrong way by the two lovers. Sasuke immediately thought he was talking about Naruto being the demon carrier and argued accordingly. Instead, however, it was asked in concern of bringing the Uchiha.

“I was simply asking how you could bear to be seen in this village with that.” Neji said, motioning toward Sasuke.

“What does that mean, Hyuuga?” Sasuke growled out.

“Come on, boys. Can’t we have a quiet and friendly night out?” Ino asked.

“Obviously not!” Both boy spat out.

“Guys, come on. It was meant to be a joke, right Neji?” Naruto tried.

“Not really.” Neji said coolly. Sasuke bared his teeth and tried to jump at the Hyuuga, only to be held back by Naruto’s strong arms.

“You’re not fighting him, Sasuke. He’s a friend.” Naruto said sternly. “We’re at a festival, you two. Act civilized!”

The group all just stared in awe at Naruto’s maturity at the situation. It made both Sasuke and Neji feel childish at their actions if even Naruto was telling them to grow up.

It was after that that the group decided to split for a while. Sakura became group itinerary planner and gave them all a precise time to meet up for the main event.

“The fireworks start at eleven o’clock sharp, and Hokage-sama agreed to let us use her roof as a place to watch the display. We can meet up at ten-fifty to get ourselves situated and prepared. We should meet at the fountain, just so we can make sure we have everything we need…”

“Okay, Mother Superior!” Ino said, giving her a salute.

“Don’t be a bitch, Ino! I’m trying to be organized!” Sakura snapped, nearly lunging at the blonde girl, but Lee held her back.

“Your youthfulness inspires me, Sakura! Let us go enjoy it at the festival!” Lee said, smiling.

Kiba growled and nearly hit the fuzzy-browed teenager. “Say the word ‘youthful’ again, Lee, and you’ll be missing some teeth! I’m tired of hearing it!”

“It doesn’t work.” Neji said. “He’ll just say it more.”

----

Naruto always enjoyed festivals as a child. He’d blow half of his allowance on the games and food alone. It was something about the gathering of everyone in the village, the collective kindness, that made Naruto crave them. Well, crave everyone except this one.

He pretended he didn’t see them, at first. But the closer he got to the heart of Konoha, the more prominent they became. The stares, the pointing fingers, the barely-hidden whispers, they were all unnerving.

Sasuke didn’t seem to notice, or he just didn’t care. Naruto hoped beyond hope that it was the former. The last Uchiha just stared straight ahead, his eyes focused on the long line of games and food stands set up along the main road. Every once in a while he’d point something out to Naruto, but mostly he just stayed quiet yet close.

Throughout the festival, they would see their friends. Mostly they’d see the girls dragging the guys from booth to booth just to see if they could win the ‘cutest stuffed animal ever!’ except for Lee who was the one dragging an exasperated Sakura. Most of the game booths had signs posted stating no shinobi could play, especially if the games took skill and were easily rigged. Not that it mattered, as none of the Konoha 12 (plus two) was wearing their headbands at all. With the exception of Neji and Hinata, no one could really tell they were highly trained ninja and wound up getting away with winning the good prizes.

A few adults passed the couple and immediately trained their eyes elsewhere. Instantly Naruto regretted coming and almost voiced it to Sasuke, until he saw it was his stoic boyfriend they were staring at. Upon further inspection, that’s who all the nosy onlookers were staring at. Resisting the urge to smack himself in the head, he looked at Sasuke who was ignoring them completely. He felt relieved at their lack of concern for him, but did feel apprehension for Sasuke.

Hesitantly, he clutched Sasuke’s hand and whispered, “They’re not looking at me, are they?”

Sasuke turned to look at the blonde and sighed. “No. It’s me they are staring at, Whiskers.” Then, with a tone of uncaring, he added, “Guess I can’t blame them.”

Naruto didn’t really know what to say, but just smirked and laid his head on Sasuke’s shoulder. “Does it bother you, ‘suke? Do you want to leave?”

“Nah.” Sasuke replied. “Don’t really care what they think of me, as long as you’re okay.”

He was feeling a hundred times better by the time he ran across Konohamaru, who was dragging a very shy Jakken with him and his group. As the dark haired boy ran up to Naruto, he had a look on his face that made the blonde want to run and hide. That look only meant trouble when it came from Konohamaru, and sadly it was Naruto who taught it to him.

“Hey, boss! Guess what?”

Naruto almost cringed before replying, “What?”

“I perfected my Boy-on-Boy Jutsu and I want to show you! And since I see Sasuke in person, I can do him better this time! Last time I still had him looking thirteen and it made it kind of a pedophile jutsu…”

It was all Naruto could do to keep himself from using Konohamaru as the dart for the dart board game, but instead caught the young boy in a headlock. Risking a glance at Sasuke, he saw a delicate dark eyebrow arched.

“What is he talking about?” Sasuke asked, his voice keeping its normal cool tone.

“Um, I have no idea, really!” Naruto said, doing a horrible job at lying as he always seemed to.

“Nonsense, boss!” Konohamaru said, pushing Naruto off of him. “You remember, I know you do. When Ayame first came here and she was training with you and we came up with the idea of making Sakura’s nose bleed. You remember, right?”

Moegi and Udon were shaking their heads at Konohamaru’s display of run-on sentences, but this went unnoticed as the boy kept talking.

“I did that great shadow clone transformation of you and Sasuke going at it!” The boy exclaimed, puffing his chest out and looking extremely proud of my self. Naruto slapped his palm to his forehead and groaned, entirely embarrassed. Sasuke still had his eyebrow arched, nearly to his hairline. “You should have seen him, Sasuke! His face turned red and he began to stutter! Come to think of it, I saw his nose bleed I think…”

Naruto smacked him over the head. “Damn it, Konohamaru! Don’t you have something else to do but annoy me?”

“Nah, not really…”

“How did you perfect it, Konohamaru?” Sasuke asked, smirking.

“Oh, I found this pervy book that showed how guys have sex.” He said, flailing his arms around with each word. “I was way off!”

At this, Moegi and Udon grabbed him, dragging the boy away from Naruto who was looking like he’d Rasengan the poor child. Jakken followed quietly, his face resembling a tomato.

Sasuke was attempting to hold him his impending laughter, until he saw Naruto’s fuming face. The usually stoic teen began to laugh, and laugh loudly.

In between fits of laughter he did manage to say something to his boyfriend, who was seriously looking like Sasuke had grown another head.

“You…he…boy-on-boy…” Sasuke said, bent over with his arms around his stomach.

Naruto, still looking like he’d explode, growled. “I never taught him that!”

The dark haired teen was trying to stop laughing, as his boyfriend already looked like he’d kill him. Wrapping his arms around Naruto, he pressed a kiss to the younger teen’s lips. “You may not have taught it to him, but you sure would have tried it yourself…”

“Shut up, Sasuke!”

----

When the group gathered on top of the Hokage tower, it ended being a bigger group than it started out to be.

First Kakashi showed up, plopping himself down beside Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke, who was sitting behind Naruto with the blonde leaning back against him, just smirked at the white-haired jounin.

“Need something, sensei?”

“Nah, just came to watch the fireworks.” Kakashi’s eye crinkled up in a smile.

Iruka soon followed, handing Naruto a small package.

“Happy birthday, Naruto. Sixteen is a very important birthday, you know.”

“Iruka-sensei! Thank you!” Naruto exclaimed, hugging the chuunin tightly.

“You didn’t even open it yet.” Iruka chuckled. “Go on.”

Inside the small package was a series of scrolls, all with different markings on the outside. Kakashi and Sasuke each arched an eyebrow at Iruka, but Naruto just gaped and started pawing through them.

“What they for, Iruka-sensei?”

“Well, they’re kind of an additional present to the one Hokage-sama will be giving you later. They each have some high level jutsu for you to learn.”

“Whoa, really?” He breathed out, opening them slowly.

When Tsunade, followed by a ‘fresh-from-the-hospital’ Jiraiya finally showed up, it was time for the fireworks to start. They had just enough time to hand Naruto a large package and have the blonde jump up and down on the roof, nearly falling off.

“It’s a chuunin vest, Granny! Am I a chuunin now?”

“Yeah, brat. Now sit down before you hurt yourself.”

As the fireworks lit up the sky, Naruto leaned back against Sasuke and snuggled in. He didn’t really care if everyone could see them, he was happy – truly happy – for once in his life.

Craning his neck to see Sasuke’s face, he whispered, “I love you, Sasuke.”

“I love you too, usuratonkatchi.” Sasuke kissed the top of the blonde’s head and smiled.

“You’re staying, right? You’re not going to leave me ever again?”

“Never again.” Sasuke said, pressing his cheek against Naruto’s. “You’re stuck with me.”

The blonde smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Love ya! Thankies for reading!