Author: Rasengan22

Note: Much belated giftfic for the lovely author nomme de plume. Inspired by the fantastic Korean film: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring!

BETA: I so could not have put this together without Kaikouken's help. Even if she keeps me up until 8 in the morning. Not like that, pervs.

"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."-Buddha

During a very bitter and unforgiving winter, a troubled young mother abandoned a child at the door of a shrine. The shrine had been built in the center of a sacred lake buried deep within the mountains of Northern Japan. At the time, the monk who lived there had been sitting in prayer before a statue of Buddha when he heard the baby’s helpless cries. The lake had frozen over and enabled the distressed woman to walk across it. When the monk opened the door, he was greeted with the darkness and the pathetic whine of an infant wrapped in a tattered scarlet cloth. The monk looked around for the mother, but, frightened, she had fled.

The ice covering the lake became aglow as it reflected the pale moonlight.

The monk peered down at the baby. A blond curl peeked out from underneath the knitted cap on its head. The child gazed up at the monk with dazzling blue eyes. It gave one last fuss before emitting a tiny sigh. The monk's expression remained impassive. He was rather young for a monk. Eighteen. He had fled the outside world to find peace in his isolation. He knew very little about children or how to take care of them.

The young man crouched down over the baby. The small bundle tried to move and shift out of the tightly wrapped blankets, attempting to free its arms as the fabric of the monk’s religious garb draped over the tiny body.

Scowling, the monk picked the infant up out of the woven basket and cradled it against his chest. With his other hand, he picked up the basket, took one last look around the darkened woods and went back inside the shrine.

Around the age of 1, the baby somehow managed to sneak out of its crib. The monk slept in a bedroll on the floor of the adjoining room. At some point during the night, the baby had climbed out, crawled across the floor and pushed open the shrine door.

The monk, who had already been having bad dreams all night, rolled around restlessly atop his futon. A noise, one he couldn’t be certain of later on, awoke him from sleep with a sense of panic. Swiftly, he sat upright on his bed, glancing around the sparse room and waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim light from a nearby candle. Everything appeared to be in its proper place as he liked it to be: the scrolls were still rolled, the statues facing the correct direction. Everything seemed as he would expect until he felt a sudden inclination to check on the infant. For the first few months the monk had cared for him, the child had done nothing but wail and sleep, too tired from crying for his missing mother.

The monk stood quickly, cracking open the door to the next room. He glanced at the make-shift crib he had created from felled trees he’d found in the woods.

It was empty.

Faster than his brain could make sense of what he was doing, the monk ran to the door, heaving it open with such anxiety that it slammed against the bamboo wall and shook the entire structure. He spotted the baby at the very edge of the deck, where another few inches and the child would have tumbled over the side and into the water where he surely would have drowned. The monk moved swiftly. He scooped the baby up into his arms and reflexively hugged it tightly to his chest. The monk’s heart thumped in rapid succession with the thoughts of what could have just occurred. The baby had been silent from the moment the monk had picked him up. Worried, he held the infant out in front of him, supporting the small weight under the child’s armpits. He surveyed the bundle for any sign of bruises or scratches. Despite having wiggled out of its clothes, the baby appeared unharmed. It stared at the monk with large, oblivious blue eyes. It did not smile, nor did it cry. The monk studied the small face with very little expression despite being internally relieved at having made it in time.

After a while of staring at one another, the air humid and moist enough to cause the baby’s blond hair to curl, the child reached out its flabby arm and held a wobbling fist near the monk’s face. It cooed softly, a very tiny, pathetic exhalation of breath. The monk blinked down at him, the corner of his mouth reluctantly turning upward into a gentle smile. He hugged the baby to his chest again, and the child rested its head against the monk’s shoulder. As the monk went back into the shrine, the infant wrapped the man’s inky dark hair around its fingers and clutched the strands tightly within its small fist. Excited gurgling noises escaped from its mouth, entirely clueless about the trouble he had caused and the danger he had been saved from.

Though the monk had come to this shrine, built long before he even got there, in order to escape a world that craved material possessions and instant gratification, the local people in the surrounding area would come to him for advice. Most of them were poor and sought treatment for ailing loved ones. Every few weeks, a mother might seek out the monk, who was capable of procuring different kinds of medicines and prayers that would hopefully cure the sick.

One day, during an autumn afternoon, the monk shepherded a young mother and her frail-looking child. The girl was pale, had pale eyes, and short dark hair that gleaned prettily with hues of purple. The turning leaves floated down onto the lake as the monk paddled them unhurriedly back to the shrine, where the guests would stay until the daughter felt less ill.

Naruto sat on the stoop in a pair of ratty-old jeans and a t-shirt that a previous visitor had left as repayment for the monk’s services. It was not custom for the monk to ask payment, but the older woman had insisted upon giving Naruto the gently used clothing once worn by her son.

The young girl was quite shy, as was the mother. They did not appear poor in the least if the monk could read anything from their refined attire. However, as a monk, he was quite aware that outward appearances said very little about what kind of life a person led. As the boat neared the shrine, Naruto got up from his seat to grab the front of the boat and tie it to a post. The monk gently placed the wooden oar down and stood, assisting the women in getting onto the deck. Naruto took the mother’s hand gently to help her onto the platform. When it came time to help the young girl, Naruto paused. She was his age. As Naruto gazed at her, the young girl began to blush in embarrassment, immediately lowering her eyes. Confused, Naruto raised his gaze to his sensei, questioning the girl’s peculiar behavior. The monk stared back at him, revealing nothing. Naruto took the young girl’s hand and helped her step onto the deck.

Finally, after watching the two children, the monk also stepped up onto the deck to speak with the mother in private and diagnose the best plan of action in helping her daughter.

Left alone, Naruto stood awkwardly, his hands plunged into the pockets of his faded jeans. The girl, dressed in a beautiful kimono of violet, kept her head bowed and her arms at her sides. Naruto dug at the wooden plank with his bare toes. Today, his hair was wild and uncombed, hanging down over his eyes. With his hand, he swept them away, holding the untamed fringes to the side.

“I’m Naruto,” the boy said, giving the timid girl a genuine smile. The girl was quiet for another minute, though she blushed furiously until Naruto was worried enough that he was about ready to call for his master, thinking a fever had spiked. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked worriedly, taking a step toward her and grabbing onto her shoulder.

The gesture startled the girl, and Naruto quickly removed his hand, shoving it stiffly to his side. He mumbled an apology. The girl raised her beautiful eyes to him. Her skin was undeniably pallid, and Naruto wondered just how truly ill she might be.

“Hinata,” the girl said in a very quiet voice.

Naruto beamed. “Hinata?” he repeated, rubbing at his chin. “That’s a pretty name.”

“Thank you,” Hinata said, her face completely red now. Naruto glanced down when the girl brought the tips of her two forefingers together and nervously tapped them.

“Say,” Naruto said, glancing up. “How old are you?”

Bashfully, Hinata looked up. “Thirteen.”

Naruto folded his hands behind his head and leaned back on his heels. His eyes were looking up in the direction of the sky. “Hmm… me too.” He immediately dropped his gaze. “Maybe we can be friends?”

The girl nodded discretely, letting out a small yelp as Naruto grabbed for her hand and began jabbering away about all of his sensei’s rules and all his favorite things to do around the shrine.

"Sensei, how old are you?”

The orphaned baby, now a 7-year-old boy, had become as much a trouble maker as a boy that age could be. He sat with the monk on the ledge of the wooden dock surrounding the small shrine. A rickety boat they used to travel from there to the shore was tied up around a nearby post. It floated leisurely as the water rippled with a light breeze. It was Spring, and the trees and flowers were abloom with life and vivid color. Sakura blossoms dotted the lake’s surface. The boy was lying on his stomach, upper portion of his body hanging over the edge of the dock as he picked at the pink petals and pinched them between chubby fingers.

The monk sat just a ways behind the boy, parchment in front of him as he wrote in pitch black ink the same vows he scribed every day. As the rough tip of his brush languidly swept along the fragile paper, he spoke to the child:

“How old do you think I am?”

The boy, whose light-colored hair had grown long and wavy during the preceding year, raised himself from off his stomach only to promptly sit down on his backside. He squinted at the monk, carefully studying his master’s youthful face as if it would reveal some big answer that had been worrying him. The monk continued to write, his graceful strokes patient and sure. The child picked at his chapped lip carelessly until it bled, sucking the blood off and running his tongue across the spot before settling his chin into the palm of his hand.

“One hundred,” he finally announced after much serious thought.

The monk stopped writing. “One hundred?” he repeated, amused. He smirked down at the paper. The boy nodded his head vehemently from the corner of his eye. “Why do you think I’m 100 years old, Naruto?”

“Well,” Naruto explained, scratching idly at his bare chest, skin already beginning to bronze due to the beautiful sunshine the area had been blessed with, even so early in the year. “The trees you showed me when we walked through the woods. You said they were hundreds of years old, right? That they were all wise and stuff because of how old they were and how much they’ve seen?

The monk sat up to observe his young pupil, waiting patiently for the boy to continue, encouraging him with a brief nod of his head.

“Well, you seem to know a lot, so I figured you had to be about as old as them, right?”

The monk answered the boy’s observation with a thoughtful murmur. Naruto turned around again, scooting more toward the edge of the deck so that he could dip his toes into the water. A tiny fish immediately became attracted to the movement and began nibbling his toes. The child let out a delighted laugh.

“I think,” the dark-haired monk said, tilting his head to the side and raising his gaze to the canopy of leaves above them, “We need to increase your arithmetic lessons. I might be doing something wrong.”

“Huh?” Naruto moved closer still to the edge in order to dip his entire foot into the lake. “Wuddaya mean by that, sensei?”

The monk shook his head in dismay and went back to his calligraphy. Moments later, he wasn’t surprised at all to hear a boyish shriek as his student slipped and fell into the water with a large splash.

“Hinata-chan, do you like flowers?” Naruto asked as he jumped around in the growing grass. Hinata and her mother had stayed at the shrine long enough for the season to have changed to Spring. The girl appeared to have more color and was far more active than when she first arrived.

“Yes,” Hinata answered meekly. She wore a simple sundress and a straw hat with a large brim that shielded her from the sun.

Naruto, only wearing a pair of shorts that went to his knees and appeared one size too large for him, bounded over to a clump of yellow flowers growing near the base of a very large, very old tree. He swiftly snatched them up to form a bouquet.

Hinata, tired from having been playing outside all day with Naruto, sat down to rest on a rock. Naruto jogged over to her excitedly, a grin plastered on his face. He offered her the flowers, which she gladly took with a smile and a blush.

“Hinata, why do you turn red so much?” Naruto asked.

Hinata blushed even harder, her expression of surprise and embarrassment. “I-I don’t know r-really,” she stuttered. “I-it’s just that…”

“Do you like me?” Naruto asked as he absently rubbed the back of his neck, looking neither cunning nor teasing. His tone was of simple curiosity.

Before Hinata could answer, they heard the sound of Hinata’s mother calling for her. Naruto grabbed for the young girl’s hand. Her other hand still held the bouquet of wildflowers. Together they rushed through the grass and the woods. Naruto helped Hinata into the boat and began paddling in the direction of the shrine. Naruto sat at the very back, Hinata the front. Hinata averted her eyes, while Naruto laughed at her bashful expression, not entirely sure why he found it to be so funny. His laughter dropped off as he continued to row. As they neared the shrine, Hinata’s mother stood aside the monk. Naruto waved and smiled. Hinata turned her head and gave a shy wave. The mother waved back, and the monk remained still.

As soon as Naruto helped Hinata onto the wooden platform, her mother pulled her into a hug.

“We’re going home today. The monk says you’ve made a complete recovery! Isn’t that wonderful?” The mother seemed genuinely grateful.

Naruto listened, but his smile faltered though he was very glad to hear his friend was no longer sick. Hinata managed to turn away her head from her mother’s chest. She looked sadly at Naruto. Naruto looked up at his sensei, but the monk wouldn’t meet his confused eyes.

“Thank you very much, monk,” the woman said, letting her daughter go to bow deeply. The monk gave a nod at her gratitude. She leaned down just a little and pulled Naruto into a hug. He did not put his arms all the way around her.

“Naruto?” The monk called him.

Naruto raised his eyes. “Yes, sensei?”

“Don’t you want to tell your friend goodbye?”

“Yes, sensei.”

Naruto stared at Hinata. She still held her bouquet in her hand.

“Well…” Naruto’s mouth twitched. “Goodbye…”

Then he promptly turned and ran into the shrine.

The mother let out a delicate laugh behind her hand and shared a knowing glance with the monk. After chatting briefly, the monk ushered them into the boat and rowed them back to the shore so they could return to their village.

“Sasuke!” Naruto roared, banging on the front entrance to the shrine. “Don’t,” he grunted, lowering his voice. “Don’t shut me out!” He pressed his forehead against the door. He was 16 now, as tall as his sensei and likely to become even taller. His hair was short, though the top of his head was wild with golden spikes. The fringe of his bangs fell over his eyes. Anguished, he hit the door hard again with his fist, making his knuckles red and raw.

He slumped down onto his knees, the unstable stoop wobbling beneath his weight. It was the middle of summer, the night was accompanied by a subtle breeze. It blew through the branches and leaves, making a sound like a whistle or a gentle breath through a flute.

Naruto rubbed his eyes with his fists. Tears had dried on his cheeks. He sniffled and curled inward as if he had a stomach ache. He folded his arms against his body and rocked. Inside the shrine, it was quiet, but the light from the lamps inside slipped through the crack underneath the door. He sat that way for some time. He shivered though it remained moderately warm as the hours ticked by. The monk never came to open the door, and around one or two in the morning, Naruto fell asleep. Part of his body lay spread out on the deck. His head rested in his arms, which remained folded on top of the stoop.

Just after dawn, when a mist had formed above the lake, the door cracked open. The monk peered down to find Naruto asleep at his feet. He stood there for what could have been hours, but was really closer to ten minutes. He crouched down. The monk studied Naruto’s face for a long time before fingering his bangs away from his face. The boy he had raised had turned into a man. The monk, still being fairly young himself, wasn’t entirely as sure how to handle him at this age compared to when he’d been a child. Naruto stirred under the touch and opened his eyes. His face did not change as he stared up at the monk.

“Come inside,” said the monk, his eyes and tone gentle despite the severity of his other features.

Naruto blinked at him as if he didn’t understand. The monk grabbed for his arm, but Naruto frowned and pulled it away. He stood on his own. With ferocity, he looked up into his sensei’s face. He stepped up to stand beside the monk, looking at him out of the corner of his eyes in a challenging fashion. The monk returned the look, impassive and not revealing anything of his thoughts. Naruto grunted and went inside.

The monk gazed across the lake, the mist becoming so thick it began to seem like a barrier surrounding the shrine. He was just about to go back inside when he paused, his sandaled-foot in the air, hand on the edge of the door. He gave one last look at the growing fog before turning around completely and stepping inside.

The night Hinata and her mom left for the village, Naruto sat outside on the stoop, watching the rain fall. Two lanterns hanging from the roof had been lit by the monk earlier on when he had seen the child out there, sitting alone in the dark. The monk had let him be for now and didn’t even scold him when Naruto refused dinner. After another hour, when the weather became slightly more chill, the monk went out again with a cup of hot green tea. He sat on the stoop beside Naruto and handed him the drink. Naruto took it without looking at him, holding it in his hands but not drinking it.

“Sensei,” Naruto spoke, his voice rough and hoarse.

“Yes?” The monk asked, staring out at the water and the tiny ripples that the droplets of rain left as they hit the lake’s surface. He took a drink of his own tea, holding it with both hands and enjoying the warmth it brought.

“What’s your name?” Naruto looked up at him, an eyebrow raised.

The monk continued looking out in front of him. “My name? Why do you want to know?”

“Because you’ve never told me,” Naruto responded in something like a whine. “You call me Naruto,” he argued.

“That’s your name,” the monk answered simply.

“The one you gave me,” Naruto said snottily.

Unaffected, the monk took another drink of his tea and sighed. “You don’t like it?”

“My name?” Naruto answered, expression reflecting confusion.

“The tea,” the monk said dryly. He turned and smiled down at his pupil. Naruto watched him suspiciously for a while until he offered his teacher a lop-sided grin. The monk tilted his head. “Do you really want to know my name?”

Naruto nodded fervently. He held the cup between both hands and shifted in his seat, rubbing his knee against the monk’s thigh. “You’ll tell me?”

The monk reflected, “Will it make you happy?”

“Yeah!” Naruto shouted. He tugged at the monk’s robe impatiently. “Tell me! Tell me!”

The monk hummed thoughtfully and licked the taste of the tea off of his lips. He hadn’t been called by his real name in a very long time. He also hadn’t ever revealed it to anyone so long as he’d been a monk.

“Sasuke,” the monk said. “Uchiha Sasuke.”

Naruto beamed in excitement. “Sasuke!”

“Sensei,” he corrected.

“Sasuke-sensei.” The boy wiggled up next to him, squirming against the monk until he had to push Naruto away.

“Naruto,” the monk sighed.

Naruto laughed and hugged the monk again. “You’ll always be sensei.”

“I’m sure,” the older man returned unenthusiastically, drinking his tea, feeling an odd relief at revealing his name after having kept it inside himself for such a long time. “Lucky me.”

Naruto snorted into his tea. “You’re funny.”

The monk rolled his eyes. The pair didn’t speak much after that, instead, they listened to the rain while sipping leisurely, both feeling at peace as they watched the placid scene in front of them.

It had been a particularly warm, late summer evening. An owl hooted softly in the darkness. The monk was alone since Naruto had left to bathe. Sasuke laid upon his lumpy bedroll, staring vacantly at the ceiling as he thought and enjoyed the temporary quiet. Crickets chirped outside; bullfrogs croaked and sung their calls out into the night, attempting to attract a mate. He felt tired, not as young and agile as he used to remember being. His muscles ached from the backbreaking amount of work he and Naruto had completed today. The boat, which had held together since coming to the shrine, had begun to leak, the wood having been invaded by termites. Luckily, Naruto was old and strong enough now to be more than just a nuisance in assisting him with certain tasks.

Incredibly, his pupil had been uncharacteristically silent today. Almost brooding, the monk would say, but then again, he was at that age. Not that Sasuke should have minded, as usually the boy never stopped chatting, but they’d been too busy building a new boat for the monk to be concerned about the sudden unusual behavior. Besides, Naruto was the type to say when something was bothering him, so if Sasuke just left the boy to himself for a few days, Naruto would eventually come around.

Sasuke heard the door open with a grating squeak, signaling Naruto’s tardy arrival. Feet padded across the floorboards of the adjacent room. In the room where they slept, candlelight flickered and swayed like floating orange and yellow orbs. The door to the room opened, and Sasuke glanced up to find Naruto in the doorway, wearing a pair of hand-me-down black cargo pants that came to his mid-calf, straps dangling off the sides and pockets. The pocket on his left leg was unsnapped while the lining of the pocket at his hip was untucked and peeking out. It appeared Naruto was growing out of his clothes yet again.

“Sensei,” Naruto spoke in a deep, husky voice, head tilted to the side as he averted his eyes to one of the dripping white candles near the opposite wall.

Curious at the vulnerable tremor in Naruto’s voice, the monk raised himself onto an elbow. “What is it?” he asked, feeling a twinge of mild worry.

Naruto swallowed, glancing at the monk briefly only to look away again. The monk answered the teenager’s behavior with a lilt of an eyebrow. Sighing, Sasuke got up into a sitting position. He crossed his legs, the silky collar of his robe rubbing against the bare skin of his chest. Naruto’s eyes were riveted to the floorboards, but in a graceful movement, he crouched before his teacher. Naruto kneeled in front of him, folding his legs underneath to sit on his calves. Eventually he raised his eyes, gaze locking with the monk’s.

“Well?” Sasuke asked patiently despite his student’s dramatics.

Nervously, Naruto bit and tugged at the corner of his lip, pink tongue darting out to lick the spot as his mouth parted to speak, “H-Have you ever been in love?

Caught off guard, Sasuke blinked several times as he focused on the question; Naruto studied him intently. The boy’s bronzed shoulders were hunched forwards, palms flat against the tops of his thighs, pulling at a strap on his left pant leg. The boy’s blue eyes were intense with their curiosity and anxiousness.

“No,” the monk answered simply and easily, because it was the truth. Finding or being in love had never been at the top of his priorities. Survival had, being left alone had, but anything to do with hormone-driven love never had.

“Never?” The question rolled off Naruto’s tongue, but the monk gave a small shake of the head, not wanting to repeat himself.

Eyeing the blushing boy, the monk smirked, a hint of tease in his voice, “Are you in love, Naruto?”

Naruto’s gaze shifted uneasily, and the monk felt an undignified quickening in his stomach akin to dread. Then, unexpectedly, the boy breached the distance between them and gently cupped the side of Sasuke’s face. Reflexively, the monk’s lips parted, a sound of surprise escaping his mouth. As a thumb stroked and swept along the curve of his cheekbone, Sasuke immediately grabbed Naruto’s wrist and pulled the hand away from his face, unable to subdue the shock from his expression.

“What are you doing?” he asked, tone harsh and biting. A flash of hurt and disappointment flickered across Naruto’s face.

The boy didn’t answer at first. He appeared conflicted. Sasuke’s heartbeat thudded in his chest, fingers still gripping his student’s wrist. Sasuke could feel the pulse speed up under his touch. Naruto blinked at him slowly and began to open his mouth to speak, but he said nothing. The monk released the boy’s hand, his own hands retreating to his lap. Naruto’s hand remained in the air for a few seconds before his fingers withdrew and curled into his palm. He brought the fisted hand to his chest and lowered his head, looking crushed.

“I think…” Naruto spoke to the floor. “I think I’m in love with you.”

Startled, the monk’s eyes widened. “Naruto,” he said the name before he could stop himself, desperately trying to regain some kind of analytical calm.

Naruto shook his head in dejection. “Don’t…” He trailed off and snapped his head to the left, staring through the open doorway. “…I’m confused, sensei,” he whispered.

Slowly the monk began to stand. He tightened the sash of his navy blue robe. He stared down at the top of his student’s head, the blond hair still damp from bathing. Not knowing what else to do, Sasuke settled his hand on top of Naruto’s head, fingers gently combing through the unruly, tangled hair. Naruto almost seemed to purr at the contact, and the monk sought to draw his hand away, but before he could, the boy snatched his wrist. Strong, lithe fingers encircled around him, squeezing tightly as Naruto pulled Sasuke’s hand to his cheek. He laced their fingers. Naruto got to his feet, carefully to keep the monk’s hand in place. He looked deeply into his master’s eyes.

“You don’t love me?” he asked innocently, eyes searching the monk’s.

The monk closed his eyes, feeling the warm sensation of the hand on top of his.

“Tell me you don’t love me.” Naruto spoke resolutely and leaned forward. The monk opened his eyes when he felt the heat of his student’s body pressing in on him. He took a step back and shook his hand free of the younger boy’s. Naruto’s expression fell. Sasuke, though he didn’t show it, began to feel a strong regret at the utter devastation his rejection of the affectionate gesture caused.

Confused himself, the monk sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “Naruto…,” he began to explain. “I… You’re my student, and I am your master.”

A low growl of complaint and disbelief kept him from continuing. “Is that all you feel for me?” Naruto asked angrily.

Sasuke kept his expression neutral and impassive. His dark eyes narrowed. “What else should I feel?”

Naruto took a step toward him. “Are you really gonna ask me that?”

“Don’t talk to me as if we’re equals!” The monk reprimanded his obstinate student firmly. Yes, Naruto had gotten taller, stronger, more confident and cocky, but everything he learned had been taught to him by the monk. The boy was foolish to think he could intimidate Sasuke.

“I’m so sorry, sensei,” Naruto drawled mockingly. He was scowling, but then began to grin wickedly. He laced his fingers behind his head and lifted his eyebrows. “Maybe you should punish me for my disobedience?”

The older man’s eye twitched with annoyance.

“Sasuke,” the boy whispered to him, suddenly sounding pleading and serious, desperate. He dropped his arms to the sides of his body, hands shaking.

Sasuke growled at hearing his name. How dare his student address him so informally!

“Don’t be angry,” Naruto said to him softly, noticing. “I knew you’d be mad, but I can’t…” He pulled at his hair in frustration. “Gah! But, when I look at you… the things I wanna do. I knew you’d kick my ass, but I can’t hold it in anymore!”

The monk held up a hand in front of Naruto. “Enough.”

Naruto clamped his mouth shut with a truncated huff, blazing blue eyes on his master. His chest rose and fell quickly with his aggravation.

“What you feel is temporary,” Sasuke began and then paused to cross his arms over his chest. “I am your master; you are my apprentice. I raised you, and in a way, you are like a son. In fact, I’m old enough to be your father.”

Naruto flinched at his words, lowering his eyes to the hem of the monk’s robe though he looked as if he was dying to protest.

“I’m sure it’s difficult because I’m one of the few people you’re able to interact with. That is probably my mistake. That’s all there is to it. This will pass with time.”

Naruto raised his head and glared ferociously. “That’s so much bullshit!”

Sasuke’s expression darkened into a dangerously ominous scowl.

Naruto glanced at him. “What?” He took a brazen step forward and smirked arrogantly. “Pissed because I don’t agree with you for once?”

However, the boy’s confident expression wavered, gasping sharply as the monk gave him a swift and powerful punch to his mid-section. Naruto curled in on himself, gasping, choking and cursing as he struggled to bring in air.

Sasuke looked at him without sympathy. “Even if you’re an idiot, don’t ever talk to me like that again. Don’t you ever disrespect me.”

Naruto dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around his middle. Sasuke crouched down in front of him.

“There’s something I need to make you aware of,” Sasuke told him, voice grave.

“There’s more?” Naruto grumbled, but the monk chose to ignore the comment.

There was a gratingly annoying whim in his heart just then to comfort his student. Despite the way his heart twisted in trepidation, he felt like he had no choice but to reveal the fate of Naruto’s future. One that he’d decided upon years ago.

“You’re betrothed, Naruto. Do you know what that means?”

“W-what? Huh? To who? When!? What?” Flustered, Naruto’s eyes rapidly moved across his master’s face, hoping this was some kind of joke.

Sasuke waved away all the questions. “Three years ago it was decided. Did you think you’d be staying here forever?”

Naruto blinked at him in incomprehension. “Sensei, what are you saying?”

Sasuke shook his head and shut his eyes. This was harder than he imagined. He should have been more prepared that Naruto would rebel.

“Sasuke!” Naruto called to him. He grabbed hold of his teacher’s broad shoulders and shook him. The monk violently slapped the hands away.

“It’s already been decided,” Sasuke growled.

“What the hell? Don’t I have any say in this? There’s no way I’d ever go through with it! Goddammit, Sasuke, it’s you I love! It’s you I wanna be with--”

The last word died on Naruto’s tongue as Sasuke hit him squarely across the cheek with the back of his hand. Naruto’s head snapped to the side with the force, a red imprint already forming. He let out a low laugh and rubbed the side of his face. Turning back, he grabbed the front of Sasuke’s robe, bunching it in his fingers and yanking the monk closer. Naruto smashed their mouths together clumsily, his grip on the other man tight and determined. Sasuke felt the warmth of the boy’s lips, he felt the hand that dragged itself across the exposed skin of his chest. Quickly, he brought both hands to Naruto’s chest and shoved with all his strength, Naruto’s teeth tearing away from his lip as the boy was flung across the room. He slammed against the wall, knocking a pair of scrolls off the shelf.

“Get…out,” the monk grit dangerously, rubbing the back of his hand against his bleeding lip.

Naruto picked himself up from off the floor. He rubbed at his injured shoulder and opened his mouth to protest.

“Get out, Naruto!” Sasuke told him again. “Get out until I decide what to do with you.”

“But--”

The monk turned on him, showing Naruto his back.

“Please don’t throw me out,” Naruto pleaded in a broken voice. “I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll--” But the sentence went unfinished, and the boy hung his head.

Sasuke remained quiet for several minutes, feeling Naruto’s eyes at his back. The candlelight continued to create and illuminate shadows against the slick fabric of his dark robe. Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He gave Sasuke one last glance before starting to leave the room. He paused in the doorway, one hand on the frame. Naruto bit his lip uncertainly and then left.

Sasuke waited for the sound of Naruto closing the door. It wasn’t long before he also heard the gentle lapping of water. Naruto was taking the boat somewhere, leaving as the monk had bid him to do. Sasuke needed Naruto to go away for a while anyway. He hadn’t at all been prepared for this conversation, and he felt ashamed at not having handled it better.

But…

If Naruto had truly grown attached to him that way, the monk had to make his student see how impossible and unrealistic those kinds of desires were. Left alone, Sasuke observed the empty room. He went to pick up the scrolls Naruto had knocked off the shelf, putting each in its proper place after re-tightening the ribbons. He left the room and walked toward the shrine door. Sasuke pressed his forehead against the wood and used the latch to lock the door. At least until he had time to come up with some kind of solution that wouldn’t allow them to be at each other’s throats from now on.

The morning after having found Naruto sleeping outside the locked door, the blond had obediently come inside to bed. After letting him in, neither had talked about what had occurred. Naruto had curled up into his own bed, back to Sasuke, and so the monk had figured he’d fallen asleep.

But in the early morning, almost the instant Sasuke had opened his eyes, he knew something to be wrong. In his robe, the monk went outside to stand at the edge of the deck. The boat remained tied to the post, but there was no sight of his student.

The morning air was crisp, a heavy mist kissing the lake’s surface and sweeping between the trees. Birds chirped in excitement. But for the first time in 16 years, the shrine felt empty and utterly isolated. Sasuke felt a pang of helplessness. Last night’s events replayed in his head, including Naruto’s kiss. Sasuke began to wonder if hiding the arranged marriage had been a mistake. Then again, he had never expected Naruto’s confession. Somewhere along the way, he hadn’t set clear enough boundaries in their relationship.

If Naruto decided to come back, what could Sasuke possibly say? It’s not as if his own Father had been there for him. Not that Sasuke had ever been one to genuinely hope for the happiness of another human being. Comfort maybe, but what was happiness? But even an idiot like Naruto should realize this was all for his benefit. So that he could have the normal life Sasuke had never grown up having. So that Naruto could be taken care of in the future. What was so wrong with that? Did Naruto really think living in a place like this was best for him when he had the opportunity to leave, travel, and be married to someone who could love him with all their heart?

Surely Sasuke could not be the only family Naruto desired. It was ridiculous.

No matter how difficult it might be, the monk was resigned to make sure Naruto made the correct decision. Even if that resulted in Naruto hating him for it.

One day, when the boy was 11, he and the monk were washing themselves on the side of a stone hill, near a stream that pooled from somewhere above and flowed over the side like a miniature waterfall. It splattered against the white flagstone and formed a tiny pond. Tadpoles and small fish darted through its shallow waters. Large bullfrogs sunned themselves on the stones embedded into the sand. It was nearly the end of summer, and the boy had grown two inches over the last year. At this point, he stood as tall as the monk’s shoulder.

The boy sat like one of the frogs, atop a stone that had heated under the sun. The monk had disrobed and was now standing under the spray of water while running long fingers through his black hair. Naruto’s own skin had tanned from playing outside so frequently. In a child’s way, he compared his own body to that of his sensei’s. His master was taller, muscles lean and strong. The monk turned, revealing the rest of his nakedness to the boy. Naruto tilted his head to the side. The monk had told Naruto about sex. He had explained what sexual organs were used for, but, still, the boy found himself curious.

Naruto wore a pair of green shorts he used for swimming. Slowly, he got up from off the rock, toes sinking into the wet sand. He walked over pebbles, water quietly splashing at his feet as he crept toward his teacher.

The monk, who hadn’t been paying much attention, was trying to relax and enjoy the warm water running over his body; the warmth of the sun; and the tranquil sounds of his surroundings. Rays of light fell across his pale, flawless skin. Naruto went to him as if in a trance. He idolized his sensei. The monk heard the splashing of water and when he looked down, Naruto stood at his side, head bowed and turned away from the monk.

“What’s wrong?” he asked the boy with a furrowed brow and grim frown.

The boy grabbed for the monk’s hand and curled his fingers around his master’s much larger hands. The monk’s eyes widened slightly, unnerved by the usually cheerful child’s solemn expression. Naruto raised his eyes from the ground to meet the monk’s.

“I want to be with you forever,” the boy declared confidently. It sounded like the feral growl of a lion cub. He sounded surprisingly mature for his age. The monk found he wasn’t quite sure how to respond or what had caused his student to suddenly say what he did, but he squeezed the tiny fingers reassuringly.

“You can’t stay with me forever,” the monk answered honestly, and Naruto scowled at him.

“Why not?” the boy asked petulantly, punctuating his pout with a stomp of his foot. The water splashed against the monk’s leg.

“I won’t be around forever,” he answered calmly and removed his hand from Naruto’s. “And you might want to leave here at some point.”

“Never,” Naruto said fiercely, staring stubbornly at the monk. “I will never want to leave.”

“Hm.” The monk combed fingers through his damp hair. “One day you might want to get married and have a family.”

“Sensei doesn’t understand,” Naruto said angrily in rebuttal. The disobedient tone caught the monk off guard. He gazed curiously at the defiant child and crouched down so that he was at eye-level with the boy.

He narrowed his eyes, asking curiously, “What don’t I understand, Naruto?”

“Sensei is my family.”

The monk watched, mildly surprised, as Naruto ran off into the forest. The monk stood for several minutes before he realized how cold he’d become standing nude in the water for so long. Somehow, Naruto’s words had shocked him, stirring deeply buried memories he hadn’t thought of in years.

That night, even though the monk waited, even though he had dinner waiting, Naruto did not return. Later on, the 11-year-old confessed to having spent the night in the woods because he’d been so angry. The monk punished him, of course, and Naruto had declared he hated him. That sensei was mean and cruel and didn’t care what happened to Naruto.

Though he knew the boy only to be 11, these words created such heartbreak for the monk that the night after he punished Naruto, he could not sleep at all.

A week went by after Naruto confessed his feelings and still the 16-year-old boy had not returned. The scent of oncoming Fall had arrived in the air. Squirrels scurried to gather nuts for hibernation, and soon the leaves would be changing color only to later create an autumnal-colored carpet across the forest floor. Sasuke had searched the woods for his student, searching the hiding spots Naruto normally used. The monk hated to admit it, but he was worried. But Naruto also knew the woods, maybe even better than Sasuke did. He also knew how to take care of himself for the most part, so there were limits as to how much trouble Naruto could get himself into.

When another week passed and still there was no sign of Naruto, Sasuke became even more anxious. In fact, terrified might have been a better way to describe how he felt at times. Every morning he rose a little earlier and every evening, he stayed up a bit later, keeping alert to the sound of Naruto’s return.

And if Naruto was to return… Sasuke would find it hard, even as a disciplined monk, to not beat the boy within an inch of his life. Sasuke was extremely disappointed with Naruto’s childish behavior.

Irritated, Sasuke went about performing the necessary chores on his own. He cleaned and maintained the shrine, gathered foodstuffs that would no longer be as plentiful over the next few weeks. He continued his daily prayers, rituals and scribing.

If Naruto did not return, the monk’s life would simply have gone back to the way it was before the boy had been left at his doorsteps. Not that Sasuke regretted raising the child as his own. He was annoyed at the way Naruto was all he ever thought about. All he could do before bed was think on the matter, wondering where he might have gone wrong. If only he’d told Naruto about the marriage earlier, maybe he would have been more inclined to agree to it. Especially when Naruto found out who it was he would be marrying.

Of course, that was another small detail he would have to attend to if Naruto didn’t come back. But, he hadn’t given up all hope yet.

Although he didn’t have to.

Two days later, without preamble or ceremony, Naruto barged in through the front door. Sasuke had been sitting before the great statue of Buddha. The figure sat atop a weathered stone pedestal. The monks eyes had been shut in prayer and remained so as Naruto stood, staring at him from the doorway. Cracking his eyes open, Sasuke’s gaze drifted to the boy. Naruto was wearing a blue t-shirt with a pocket on the right side of his chest, and a pair of faded jeans. Sasuke glanced at his shoes, a pair of muddy Nike sneakers.

“Come here,” Sasuke told him, surprised at his own calm. But Naruto refused to budge. Sasuke sighed and repeated himself more forcefully, “Come here.”

Naruto waited as if testing his master’s patience, but then he went to stand aside Sasuke. The monk said nothing and closed his eyes again.

Naruto huffed impatiently. “Don’t you wanna know where I went?”

Sasuke did not answer.

“What? Are you never gonna speak to me again?” Naruto asked incredulously.

“Did you forget you’re supposed to take off your shoes upon entering a shrine?” Sasuke asked him quietly.

“Wha-?” Naruto gazed down. “Oh. Oh yeah. Sorry, sen--” Naruto cleared his throat. He’d wanted to remain angry at the older man. “Sensei.”

Obediently, Naruto sent outside and shuffled out of his shoes, placing them beside the stone step. He went inside again and found the monk standing in the center of the room. The older man wore a simple white yukata, tucked inside the waistband of the loose, black hakama. His master looked more tired than usual. Dark circles had appeared under his eyes. He might have also lost some weight. The top of the monk’s muscular stomach where the yukata parted was visible.

Sasuke eyed his pupil for a long while until Naruto shifted and squirmed under his gaze. Eventually, Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through the hair at the side of his head in exasperation.

“I suppose we should talk,” he said. Naruto, looking slightly surprised, nodded and walked toward him. He stuffed his hands inside the pockets of his jeans.

“Okay,” he replied.

Sasuke observed him closely, trying to remember Naruto when he was younger and having a difficult time imagining that child to be the man now standing in front of him.

“You can’t stay here anymore,” Sasuke told him, forcing his expression to be indifferent and cold.

Naruto grinned at first, thinking it was a joke, but looking at the monk, he realized his sensei wasn’t kidding. “W-what do you mean? If it’s because I tried to kiss you--”

Sasuke’s eyebrow twitched.

Naruto stepped forward, bringing himself dangerously close to Sasuke. He searched the monk’s face in wild desperation. “You wouldn’t really kick me out for that, would you?”

Sasuke nearly lost his resolve. “You were going to have to leave eventually.”

“Says who?” Naruto asked, furious. He tore his hands from his pockets. “Because of something you decided for me without even asking?”

“I wasn’t aware I had to ask for your permission.”

“Damn right you better!” Naruto shouted and grabbed for the monk’s yukata, fingers slipping just underneath to press against Sasuke’s chest. The monk flinched at the contact, and his mouth turned into a deep scowl.

“You might want to watch yourself before I start getting angry,” he warned the boy.

Naruto laughed darkly, challenging him. “Good. I’d like to see you get angry. I’d like to see you not pretend to be so perfect. Dammit, I want to know you feel something!”

Sasuke wrenched Naruto’s hand off his clothing. He held the hand briefly and then released it, watching as it fell to the boy’s side.

“What is it you want me to feel?” Sasuke sneered derisively.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. “I want you to love me!”

“No.”

“No!?” Naruto hissed. “Are you gonna feed me some line about how because you’re the one who raised me, you can’t return my feelings? Is it the age difference? Or is it because I’m a man? It sure as hell isn’t your vows. You think I don’t know, but you sure as hell weren’t always a monk, and you sure as hell weren’t a saint when you were my age--”

Of its own accord, Sasuke’s fist flew through the air and made contact with Naruto’s jaw. The boy stumbled back a few steps, hand at his face, rubbing as a speckle of blood appeared a the corner of his mouth.

“I don’t know what you heard,” Sasuke said in a low, angry tone. “I don’t know who you talked to while when you ran away for two weeks because you didn’t get the answer you wanted, but you have much to learn still. You think you know me, Naruto?”

A trace of fear and insecurity flashed in the boy’s eyes. To cover it up, Naruto narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. “I think I know you a damn sight better than anyone else!”

Sasuke released a frightening but amused chuckle. “What do you know?

Naruto opened his mouth and closed it. He dropped his arms to the side, right hand forming a fist. “I know that if you’d look at me as something other than your idiotic, naïve student for once, you’d realize you wouldn’t have to live such a goddam lonely life!”

Sasuke grit his teeth. “This is the life I chose, and not that I should need to remind you, but you would have died a long time ago when your mother abandoned you here had I not chosen this lifestyle.”

Naruto flinched at the mention of his mother. Sasuke felt a small amount of regret at having so carelessly used that against Naruto in order to put him in his place.

“Great, so you saved my life,” Naruto muttered, staring Sasuke directly in the eye. “Then I’d be happy to sacrifice it in order to make you see that it’s okay to be fucking happy once in a while!”

Sasuke snorted. “Happy? There’s more to life than happiness, Naruto! There’s duty and responsibility. Happiness is just a frivolity of those who don’t have more important things to think about.”

“Like hell you really believe that! I know you don’t!”

“I don’t care what you believe,” the monk snapped. He paused to calm himself, rubbing at his temple. “Why did you run away?”

“Why did you?” Naruto retorted arrogantly.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. They stared at one another, sizing each other up, Naruto’s chest heaving with self-righteous fury while Sasuke, for the most part, remained outwardly calm.

“Do what you want,” Sasuke said finally.

“You’re gonna give up on me?” Naruto asked disbelievingly.

The monk shrugged.

Naruto sighed. “Okay, let me ask this. What would make you happy?”

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, a very slight movement, but one Naruto picked up on nonetheless. The blond boy took two steps forward and stood directly in front of his master. Another step, and their faces were inches from one another. Naruto’s eyes shone with hope and determination.

“For you to marry Hinata,” Sasuke said firmly, quite serious despite the way his voice trembled.

“Hinata?” Naruto repeated, confused. “Who- Oh. That girl from years ago? What does she--” Then Naruto’s eyes widened as what Sasuke was saying settled in. He looked at Sasuke questioningly. “I’m supposed to marry… her?”

Sasuke’s blank stare was his only answer.

“That will make you happy?” Naruto asked, voice shaking. He stepped back and looked away.

“It’s what’s best for you,” the monk answered, drawing his arms across his chest.

Naruto laughed. “What’s best for me… Right.”

“Naruto,” the monk said, but then could not get himself to say anything further. He was so close. It looked as if Naruto was considering it, then Sasuke wouldn’t have to feel a lifetime of guilt for ruining the boy’s life by making him stay here.

The teenager looked up, blue eyes glassy. The right corner of his mouth trembled, and he sucked in a harsh breath. “Is this the only way?”

Sasuke nodded slowly.

“Fine.”

The monk wanted to smile but found he could not. A moment that he thought would somehow be significant and appreciated had fallen flat of his expectations. Still, even if Naruto hated him for the rest of his life, it was a price Sasuke was willing to pay. If Naruto couldn’t appreciate what he was doing, that was his own damn fault.

“Sasuke?”

The monk blinked and looked up. He’d been staring at the mat on the floorboards. He didn’t even have time to speak as Naruto came to him and enveloped him into a crushing hug, the blond’s face smashed against his shoulder, arms wrapped around the older man’s waist. Momentarily startled, Sasuke waited before hesitantly wrapping his arms around Naruto’s waist. He felt something warm and wet roll down his shoulder, under the fabric of the yukata and down his chest. A hand went into his student’s hair, fingers stroking gently until Naruto’s sobbing noises went away.

“If I do this…,” Naruto spoke into his shoulder. “It’s only because it’s what you want. It’s not what I want, Sasuke… It’s not!” His body shuttered against the monk’s. Sasuke unconsciously tightened his embrace, holding the younger boy close. After a few minutes, however, he released the boy.

“You’ll understand in time,” Sasuke whispered and kissed Naruto’s forehead. The boy shook his head stubbornly while swiping at his blood-shot eyes. Tear-tracks adorned his flushed cheeks. Naruto pushed himself away and turned his back on Sasuke. The monk watched him as he went to the door and then stopped.

“Don’t forget I’m doing this for you,” Naruto said quietly, Sasuke barely able to hear him. He opened the door and walked outside, leaving the monk alone.

“And I’m doing this for you,” Sasuke said under his breath. He rubbed at his chest, near to where Naruto’s head had rested against him. “And in time, you’ll understand that.”

In early November, Naruto married Hinata in a small ceremony. Sasuke, of course, was not able to leave the shrine. The last time he saw Naruto was on a cool morning in early October. Naruto had gone to Hinata’s village in order to find a job, as well as get reunited with his bride-to-be.

He remembered the look on Naruto’s face. He remembered the chill in the air. It had been foggy. The woods had been completely quiet.

Naruto had kissed him again, and this time Sasuke let him. Sasuke hadn’t kissed back, but he allowed Naruto to wrap his arms around him, press close, and kiss him as he pleased. Even now, Sasuke didn’t know why he’d allowed it, other than some part of him believed he owed it to the boy. Or maybe it was the utterly desperate look Naruto had given. How positively broken and lost he looked with his small bag of belongings at his feet.

Neither said goodbye, but as Naruto rowed the boat to the opposite shore, his eyes remained locked on the monk until his outline was swallowed up by the fog.

And that was the last time Sasuke saw Naruto for many years.

During an especially cold winter, a modest fire crackled inside the central room in the shrine. This was the room where the monk and the boy would pray before the statues. They did this when they woke up, during the middle of the day, and then before they went to bed at night. A tatami mat lay on the floor. The pair had just finished praying for the evening. Naruto and the monk slept side by side in an adjoining room. They left the door open so as to receive the warmth of the fire. The monk lay down on his futon. Naruto also lay down, pulling his blanket up over his body. The monk had become accustomed to immediately falling asleep once he was ready to rest. His days were long and filled with routine. His consciousness lingered somewhere on the borderline between waking and dreaming when he felt the small presence clinging to his side.

Without cracking open his eyes he spoke, “Naruto, what are you doing?”

The 10-year-old curled in further, attaching himself to his sensei’s body.

“It’s cold,” the boy said through chattering teeth.

“That’s why you have your own bed and blankets,” the monk answered firmly.

“But I feel warmer like this,” Naruto argued and wiggled his body.

The monk sighed. He had the urge to be firm, to discipline. However, patience and love were also virtues. He had to remember this.

“Only for tonight,” the monk said. He wrapped his arm around Naruto and rested his hand on top of the child’s head. He used his fingers to comb through the blond hair. “When was the last time you brushed your hair?”

Naruto mumbled against his chest.

“What?” The monk gently grabbed the back of his head and pulled the boy’s hair so he could see his face and hear him as he talked.

“A week ago,” Naruto answered and pulled a face.

“Should I even ask the last time you brushed your teeth?” He asked the boy with a frown.

“Not if you don’t want to hear the answer,” the boy said and gave the monk a cheeky grin.

The monk narrowed his eyes warningly and Naruto dropped his grin, clinging tighter to his teacher in case his master decided he wouldn’t let him sleep there. The monk's lips parted as he studied the boy, the ebbing fire creating shadows of light inside the small room they shared.

Naruto yawned and looked up, catching the expression of uncertainty on his sensei’s face. “Sensei, what’s wrong?” He asked docilely as he cuddled closer.

“Naruto…” The monk began and chided himself for considering asking this question of a ten-year-old. “Do you ever wonder where you came from?”

“Like the birds and the bees?” Naruto asked in confusion. “You told me about that already.”

The monk, caught off guard, accidentally chuckled and then composed himself swiftly. “No, that’s not what I meant,” he said calmly. “Are you sad you never knew your parents?”

The boy remained quiet for a while. The fire crackled gently in the next room and still it was very cold.

“No,” Naruto answered after some time. He wormed his way out of the monk’s arm and raised himself on his elbows. He stared intensely down into the monk’s face. Then his confidence wavered. “Aren’t you like my father?”

The monk thought a moment. “I am not your father, Naruto.”

“But you love me like a father, right? You take care of me and feed me and make sure I have clothes to wear and teach me things, don’t you?” Naruto looked very frightened and unsure all of a sudden, near panic.

The monk tugged the child back down until Naruto once again collapsed at his side. Naruto threw his tiny arm across the monk’s chest and buried his head. The monk remained silent, not entirely sure how to answer the boy’s questions because he had always been honest and straight forward with the child. He never allowed Naruto the chance to pity the circumstances of his childhood and as a result, the boy had never asked anything regarding why he was here or who had left him at the shrine. He had always simply accepted the monk as his caretaker.

The monk became conflicted. A part of his heart was telling him to reassure the boy, to tell him that he did love Naruto in a manner that a parent would love a child, but it had been so long that the monk had acknowledged those feelings within himself. It had been a long time since he had seen his own parents or his brother. As a monk, he understood the importance of love, but he wasn’t as sure if he still knew how to feel it and pronounce the words.

By the time he had worked out his thoughts methodically, according to what the Buddhist philosophies decreed, Naruto was snoring softly in his arms, a tiny wrinkle formed between his pale eyebrows. The monk lay awake for quite a while before he was able to fall asleep.

It had been ten years since Naruto had left the shrine to marry Hinata. It was a warm spring day when he re-appeared. The monk had gone out for an afternoon walk in the woods. Rowing the boat, he was half way to the shrine when he noticed someone sitting on the stoop. To be more specific, there were two figures sitting on the stoop.

The monk seemed to have froze, but almost instantly regaining himself, he continued to row the boat toward the shrine calmly. With practiced hands, he tied the boat up to the dock and stepped upon the planks. The blond man rose to his feet, a slow smile spreading across his face. Sasuke stood where he was, eyeing the changes in Naruto after ten years. His gaze dropped to the other person still sitting on the step. Naruto noticed.

“Sensei,” Naruto said. “This is my son.”

The little boy--he didn’t appear to be any older than five or six--had a mop of wavy black hair and intense blue eyes. They were much lighter than Naruto’s, but just as piercing. At first, the boy looked at Sasuke almost shyly. He glanced up at his father, who was still grinning, and then peered at Sasuke suspiciously.

“Say hi to sensei,” Naruto said to the boy softly, voice gruff and mature.

The boy broke out into a bright grin, eerily similar to the ones Naruto had flashed Sasuke when he was at the same age.

The boy lifted his hand in salute and beamed, shouting, “Hello, sensei!”

Sasuke couldn’t help but smile. When Naruto laughed, the monk looked over at him. Sasuke felt awkward. It had been a long time since Naruto left, and conversation had become scarce.

“H-how are you?” Naruto asked him. “I mean, how have you been?”

Sasuke ran his eyes over the other man’s face. “Fine.”

Naruto chuckled nervously. “You’ve changed, sensei.”

“Naruto, you don’t have to call me sensei any longer.”

Naruto rubbed at the back of his head nervously. “Sorry. I guess it’s… a habit. It’s been a long time since I’ve said it.”

Sasuke glanced down at the boy again. He had a hold of one of his legs, studying his toes intently as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world.

“He’s so similar to you,” he commented with a smirk.

Naruto chuckled, looking genuinely happy. “Just wait until he becomes interested in other body parts.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and snorted.

“I suppose you wonder what we’re doing here?” Naruto asked after a small silence.

Both men's gazes locked. One of Naruto’s eyebrows was raised, his usually quirked lips were set in a thin, foreboding line.

Sasuke gave a wry smile. “I hope you’re not intending to leave him here for me to raise.”

Naruto’s eyes widened, and a laugh slipped out of his mouth, pleasing the monk. “No, no, nothing like that.”

Sasuke cleared his throat. “How’s Hinata?”

Naruto quickly glanced away. “Natsume, would you mind going inside the shrine for a minute while Daddy talks with sensei?”

“But Daaad,” the boy whined, chubby arms flopping across his chest obstinately. “We just got here, and I wanna meet sensei, too, since you’re always talkin’ so much about him!”

Naruto went to the boy and crouched down in front of him. He tugged at one of the denim straps of the child’s overalls playfully. The boy scowled at him, but then he couldn’t seem to help himself and smiled at his father. Naruto ruffled the child’s hair.

“Go on. There’s all kinds of fragile stuff in there that Sasuke-sensei will get mad about people playing with… why don’t you go do that.”

Natsume let out a high-pitched giggle. He looked over his dad’s shoulder to glance at a frowning Sasuke.

“Sensei doesn’t look like he likes the idea,” Natsume said in a loud whisper.

Naruto looked over his shoulder. In that moment, it startled Sasuke how similar the two were, but he could still see the traces of Hinata in the child. Natsume was very much their son.

“Now go on,” Naruto ordered firmly, pulling the boy up by the back of his bibs and straightening out the boy's blue and yellow striped shirt.

“I’m goin’, I’m goin’,” the boy said and tucked his hands into his pockets. He gave Sasuke one last look of longing before pulling open the shrine door and storming inside.

Naruto stood there for a while, looking off toward the woods. Sasuke studied him before looking down at his own hands. The palms were rough with years of very had labor. The back of his hands were somewhat wrinkled. After all, he was in his forties now.

“Uh,” Naruto began, still looking off. “Hinata died… last year.”

Sasuke remained quiet. Naruto glanced back at him, smiling weakly.

“She always got sick on and off, you know. Like she did when she was younger.” Naruto hung his head and scratched his fingernails up and down his forearm. “So it’s just me and Natsume now.”

“Naruto…” Sasuke said, but Naruto held up a hand.

“It’s alright. We were pretty prepared, and Hinata made it clear she didn’t want us to stay sad. She wanted me to make sure that Natsume knew she loved him, and try to make him laugh every day, and…” Naruto choked up.

Sasuke went to him and pulled him into a hug, letting Naruto cry on his shoulder. “Sensei…," the man said hoarsely, clutching onto the older man like he was a teenager again.

The monk rubbed soothing circles over Naruto's back.

“I was wondering… if we could stay with you for a while? Not… forever, but just for a while. I want Natsume to meet you. I want him to see where I grew up…”

Sasuke held his former student very close, taking in the other man’s familiar scent. It felt natural to hold him this way as the sunlight fell over them, warming their skin.

“You know,” Naruto spoke, “It took me a long time to understand what you were trying to do…”

Sasuke continued to rub his back, his chin on top of Naruto’s head, blond hairs tickling his nose. He waited patiently for Naruto to continue.

“I guess there are all kinds of ways for people to show their love, huh?” Naruto lifted his head and stared into Sasuke’s eyes, gaze darting back and forth, attempting to read the older man, to know what he was thinking.

The monk smirked. “Took you long enough. Then again, you always were a little slow.”

Naruto scowled at him. He grabbed Sasuke’s hand and squeezed, but just then they heard a loud crash coming from inside the shrine.

“Oh shit,” Naruto mumbled and looked apologetically at Sasuke. He laughed uncomfortably. “We should, uh, probably go check that out.”

Sasuke sighed. Naruto still held onto his hand a while longer. He squeezed it once and then let it go. He began walking toward the shrine door. Sasuke followed after him, a small, satisfied smile on his lips.

It seemed to him, that no matter how much time elapsed, some things never changed.