Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ I'll Fight For You ❯ Parole ( Chapter 13 )

I don't own Naruto.

 

Parole

 

All right, Sakura clenched her fists determinedly, this is my chance. Sasuke is back in Konoha and this is my time to become his! She squealed, not noticing the way the people around her rolled their eyes at her antics.

 

Sasuke agreed to meet me for lunch, this is a once in a lifetime chance and I have to make the best of it! Oh—she looked up to the approaching figure.

 

“Sasuke!” she stood and waved to him, her smile faltering when he didn't blink or even acknowledge that she existed.

 

Ok! Don't get discouraged! You can do this yet! You know him better than any other girl in Konoha!

 

“I picked a spot in the shade.” She patted the table, wincing afterwards at how stupid that must have looked. For god's sake, she was eighteen, and turning nineteen in just a few months!

 

“Hn.” Was Sasuke's only answer as he sat down heavily in his chair across from her.

 

Sakura sat down, smoothing her shirt out of habit as she smiled at him. He was glaring at her, with his hands folding in their usual—or what had been usual before he left—position with his elbows up on the table.

 

“You're not wearing your family's symbol.” She noted. Actually, Sasuke wasn't wearing any clothes even remotely similar to anything she'd ever seen him in before. Black chest and forearm armor, a deep navy shirt and black pants. He looked like he was part of a group of ANBU from an S-class ninja organization or from a village like Orochimaru's village. She had no way of knowing that Sasuke hadn't put on anything but the black ANBU armor that Naruto had picked out for him since he'd found it by their bed the time Naruto had bought it.

 

“Hn.”

 

Sakura sighed and decided to play her below-the-belt card. “How come you aren't locked up…? I thought Naruto…” she knew the answer, but she needed to breach the Naruto subject with him. She knew how protective he could be over Naruto, and it was the best way that she knew of at the moment to get him to open up at least a little bit.

 

“…The council didn't want me locked up so I could calm Naruto down if he ever lost control of himself, it would be to dangerous to try and let me out without things getting too out of hand with the Kyuubi. That and Naruto threatened to hurt someone if they locked me up.” Sakura didn't miss the tiny smile that tugged at the corners of his lips when he said that.

 

Sakura laughed loudly, trying to keep her own spirits up. “Naruto wouldn't hurt someone from the village!”

 

“He attacked you, didn't he?”

 

That made her grind to a halt in her tracks, and her fingers unconsciously traced the darkened skin on her forearm, where Naruto's claws had almost burned her arm off.

 

“That wasn't Naruto that time, he didn't know what he was doing.” She said firmly.

 

“That was him. It's just a different side of him, the bloodlust side that's leaking the Kyuubi's chakra.” Sasuke returned easily, as if he had already accepted it. Which he had.

 

“What did you want to see me for Sakura?” he asked bluntly.

 

He thinks this is like a business transaction. She thought sadly, but didn't let anything show on her bright face. “Can't old teammates see each other once and a while?”

 

Sasuke fought not to groan. The only reason he was here was because she had refused to quit calling him until he saw her. With all of the trials, bills, probation and hundreds of other issues in moving back into this goddamn village, he'd been able to see Naruto all of once in the time he'd been home.

 

He blinked. Home… how long had it been since he'd had… anywhere to call that?

 

“Sakura, I'm very busy—”

 

“I asked Tsunade to give you some time off today to spend some time with your friends.” Sakura beamed, as if she were doing him a favor. “She said it would be good to help you settle back down.”

 

You mean she hopes I'll get too settled here to decide to up and break Naruto out and disappear with him one day. He corrected mentally. The Hokage was so predictable it was sad.

 

“I thought we could do a little shopping for your house.” She smiled. “With you gone, many of the poorer families have been using things from your house, so—”

 

“The compound has enough in it. Anything that was something of value was locked away and therefore inaccessible to anyone outside the Uchiha family.”

 

“Oh, well, maybe you'd like to get something to eat? There's a new restaurant in the market place, they have a lot of spicy food. I know you don't like sweets, and their food is just either salty or spicy.”

 

Sasuke smirked unconsciously, thinking about Naruto and his wasabi and soy sauce concoction, his smirk faltering when Sakura practically glowed across from him.

 

Shit, she thinks I'm smiling at her.

 

“Do you want to get lunch?”

 

“No.”

 

“Well maybe some training? Or just a walk? The weather is beautiful today, it'd be a shame not to do anything.”

 

Damn it, when did she get sopersistent?!

 

“Come on Sasuke.” She practically commanded, standing up and waving for him to follow her. Half of him—no, ninety-nine one hundredths of him seriously considered just sitting there, but something made him stand.

 

Is it how much Naruto likes her?

 

Ouch. That thought there was like a sword to the gut.

 

Does Naruto still like her? The fox was horny the first time we… is that the only reason we were doing that? The Kyuubi is very driving in Naruto's life… is it why Naruto…

 

“Sasuke?”

 

“Hn.”

 

“Are you ok? You look a little… distracted.” Sakura said, trying to look him in the eye, but he refused to look at her.

 

“Fine.” He said gruffly.

 

“Isn't it beautiful out today?” Sakura smiled up at the sky, her hands folded behind her.

 

Sasuke remained silent. It wasn't worth his time to answer.

 

Actually, the last time we did it too, Naruto had almost completely lost it to the fox. And he was seriously horny then.

 

“You sure you aren't hungry?”

 

“No.”

 

“Well we could stop and get a drink somewhere—”

 

“No.”

 

“Or an ice cream?”

 

Sasuke's eye twitched. Would she every just shut up?

 

“Oh yeah, you don't like sweets… I know!” she perked up and Sasuke fought against a groan.

 

“How about we take a walk down by the—”

 

“No.”

 

“But I thought you liked the lake.” She protested. Sasuke could feel his self-control cracking more and more by the second.

 

“You know we could also—”

 

“Sakura.” He cut her off sharply.

 

He turned to face her, his face blank and serious so she would get it. Hopefully. “Sakura, I treasure our friendship, it's always been important to me.”

 

“Yes?” she prompted quietly.

 

“B—”

 

“SAKURA-CHAN!” Lee's booming voice echoed across the market place.

 

Sakura's head snapped up and she whirled to the sound of the yell, about to shout something not nearly as nice back at him probably about interrupting her time with Sasuke. Sasuke took the 0.03 second opportunity, thanking the gods and Lee a thousand times as he did, and vanished on the spot, relocating himself as far away as he could, as fast as he possibly could.

 

Ok, Lee could usually distract Sakura for a good three and a half minutes, so he had that long. Sasuke took off for the cellblock, pooling all of his chakra into his legs to run faster.

 

 

 

Sasuke slid to a stop on the ground, fresh from the rain, and glared up at the sky, just daring it to start thundering. It would be a colossal issue if it did start thundering. The village didn't need another reason to hate Naruto, and they certainly didn't need to learn that he had a weakness as common and as accessible as thunder, especially with ninja around that could manipulate storms.

 

“Sasuke Uchiha.” He said to the guard at the door, his hands tight in his pockets.

 

“Yes sir.” The guard nodded and waved him in, staring at his back with awe as he walked through the gates. Sasuke stiffened. There were the people in Konoha who were too afraid to go near him, and then there were the ones who were so amazed by his power that they didn't have the sense to be scared, and he didn't know which was worse.

 

He stepped silently down the dank hall to the restriction cell, one of the ones with sealed bars, so someone wouldn't have to just touch Naruto to let him out, like last time.

 

“Naruto?” he asked quietly as he approached the last cell so as not to startle Naruto.

 

The sound of feet padding across the floor echoed down the hallway, and then Naruto's hand poked out from between the bars and waved energetically at him.

 

“Hi Teme!” Naruto beamed through the cage-like cell, despite the circumstances. The floor was wet, but Naruto seemed happy barefooted, and his cell was a trash dump, but he'd also been fine with that, saying that he was lucky he didn't get dumped out on the streets.

 

“I tried to get Tsunade to let you move back in with me, but she said the council still doesn't trust you. Bastards.” Sasuke finished to himself, moving to lean again the wall beside the cell, staring in at Naruto with a small smile.

 

Before Naruto had been put in the cell, he'd been living with Sasuke in the Uchiha mansion, but the council had wasted no time in locking him up.

 

“Well, they'll open up soon—” Naruto tried.

 

“Idiot! You don't get it! They hate you as much as they hate me!” Sasuke exploded, too sick of Naruto standing up for those bastards to hold back anymore. “They hate me for being an Uchiha and they despise you for the Kyuubi! If I died, they'd auction off everything in the compound, but if you died, they'd throw parties in the streets! Stop defending them!”

 

Naruto's smile wavered a little as he stared down at the ground. “I can't hate them…” he said slowly, “they have a right to be scared, you've seen what the Kyuubi can do—”

 

“But the fox isn't you.” Sasuke snapped, shoving away from the wall to glare Naruto in the eye. “And they take it out on you.”

 

“We merged—”

 

“You are you.” Sasuke said firmly, no longer yelling. He took Naruto's hand and held it tightly as the blonde slipped it through the bars to him. “I don't care if your chakra merged, your heart is still yours, not the fox's. It never was, and it never will be. Never, do you get it?”

 

Sasuke gritted his teeth and gripped Naruto's hand tighter. He had to get this out, both of them needed to hear it, and out loud.

 

“I'm only going to say this once, so listen up, Usuratonkachi. To me, you're necessary, even if you aren't to those bastards. You're important, hell, I almost fucking died over you!” Oh perfect, now I'm getting flustered. “You saved me. You were my friend when I didn't have any, you were my family when all of mine were gone, you were my brother after Itachi died. You're—” Sasuke clenched his teeth, his embarrassment going through the roof.

 

“Me too.”

 

He looked up sharply in shock.

 

“Me too.” Naruto repeated softly. “You told me that I was here for a reason, that I was alive and breathing for a reason, that I was necessary, important. You made me feel wanted, and not just like a friend, either. With you, Sasuke…”

 

Naruto's blush had turned his entire body read, but he didn't stop. He didn't allow himself to stop.

 

“I feel needed. Something I'd never felt before. I was always a nuisance to Sakura, excess baggage to Kakashi-sensei, and probably just a student to Iruka-sensei, though I wanted to be so much more. I'm the Kyuubi carrier, and everyone sees me as nothing but that now, but Sasuke, you… you see me.”

 

“You were never just that to them.” Sasuke countered.

 

Naruto smiled happily, passing over his comment to continue. “You call me loud, and an idiot, and a moron, a Dobe, an Usuratonkachi and a dead last,”—Sasuke flinched at the list of names—“but if that's what I am, then fine. You don't call me a monster, or a demon fox, or a waste of space, or an abomination like other people do. I found my reason to come home. I found the strength to keep fighting for myself, you gave me someone to fight for, you gave me someone to care for, someone precious to me, someone to protect…” Naruto paused briefly, a small smile on his lips, “and I am going to protect you, no matter how much you try to shield me from danger. You wont be able to hide me behind you forever. I'm not going to stay hidden in the shadows. From now on, when we fight, we fight together.”

 

“You're my…” Naruto seemed to waver in a pained hesitation before continuing as if nothing had bothered him. “So I'm going to fight with you.”

 

Sasuke chuckled. “You mean after you get out of this cell.”

 

Naruto huffed and stepped back. “You always know how to ruin the mood.” He grumbled, walking to the back of the cell and sinking down, hugging his knees to his chest as he faced the wall. Sasuke swallowed, watching the way the already short kimono slid down Naruto's legs and to the floor, revealing more skin then he thought he could handle at the moment.

 

Sasuke turned around and sat down with his back against the bars, shooting the guard a death glare as he did. The bastard was staring at him like he had four and a half heads for Christ's sake!

 

Sasuke sighed mentally, perfectly at ease to sit here until the end of time with the Dobe. It wasn't like he had anywhere to be, he was a Jounin—technically, after taking the chunin and Jounin exams—but no one trusted him with their kids enough to train them, and he was only sent as a supervisor for Genin missions; all things boring enough to make him literally fall asleep.

 

“Dobe?” Sasuke said quietly, staring at a little patch of moss on the wall opposite him.

 

Stubborn. Sasuke scowled as only the crickets answered him, jumping slightly when a pair or arms slid through the bars of the cell and wrapped around his chest, hugging him gently. Naruto laid his head against Sasuke's shoulder, and Sasuke smirked, his hand reaching up to hold Naruto's.

 

“You know, you didn't have to stay.” Naruto murmured.

 

“…If we're in this together, then we have to be in all the way.” Sasuke said. “I'm not leaving here until you do, and then, after we both get out, we'll fight together.”

 

Naruto leaned closer into Sasuke's back, resting his head contently into the crook of Sasuke's neck.

 

“Yeah.” He whispered. “Thanks Sasuke.”

 

Sasuke's small smile fell into a grimace, and his brow furrowed in pained confusion at the sudden thoughts that flashed through his head that he instantly shoved away.

 

No. I do not. we're just friends. Brothers. Just close friends. I do not lo… I don't.

 

Three Days Later

 

“You know I can't do that Uchiha.”

 

“He's not an S-class ninja, he's only in the cell because the council is a cluster of paranoid cockroaches.”

 

“It's still the council, and I have no say in it.”

 

“But you control the ANBU, and Naruto is part of the ANBU.”

 

“I can't—”

 

“You know I could always just take him away from this place if neither of us are really wanted to be here.” Sasuke cut her off, crossing his arms. He was treading on thin ice, threatening the Hokage with something he wouldn't really do. It wasn't a question of if he could, it was if he would. Naruto was happy in Konoha, cell or not. Sasuke supposed he could run away and then just wait for Naruto to follow him, but he didn't want to hurt Naruto anymore.

 

They were in a glaring contest, with everyone in the room squirming more by the second. Eventually, Tsunade turned away, and Sasuke smirked. He never lost.

 

“I can send a request for temporary probation.” She snapped finally, reaching for a piece of paper.

 

“Parole,” he corrected through his teeth, “because I know they wont pardon him, and he can be under house arrest if they still feel the need to lock him up, because he'll be staying with me at the compound.”

 

“They're more likely to give him probation rather than parole—”

 

“They'll do it.”

 

“You sound confident.” She glared up at him, but he could see the glimmer of hope in her eye.

 

Sasuke nodded. “They want Naruto in the village, because no matter how dangerous or how much he scares them, because his power is too useful for them and too dangerous in enemy hands. Besides, if Naruto ran away, he'd go to Suna and Gaara would massacre anyone who hurt Naruto enough to make him run away from home. Again.”

 

Tsunade sighed, staring to scribble down on the paper. “Should I mention that you threatened them?” Sasuke brushed over the jab easily. “Most likely, if they think he's going to try to break free from the village again they'll have the ANBU watching him at all times, but even then it's very—”

 

“They'll do it.” Sasuke said again. “And they can come straight to me if they think I'm going to use the Kyuubi on the village and say anything to my face, not tell me it through the Hokage.” He smirked darkly.

 

“You're walking a tightrope over lava Uchiha.” Tsunade warned. “It's dangerous to threaten the council in any way, and they might use it as an excuse to try and get rid of you—”

 

“I was kind of hoping for it.” Sasuke smirked. “I'd also like the excuse of `defending' myself if they attack me to take them down. You might want to warn them that it wont be as easy this time to kill me. No one in the village is strong enough to take me down, most of them are too scared to come near me, and only person I trust is Naruto, and I know he wont turn on me. Also, I'm the only one left in my family, unfortunately for them, so they can't turn my other brothers on me.” Sasuke said darkly and stormed out the door.

 

Tsunade sighed and continued to write. “That boy has a lot of anger.” She murmured to Shizune.

 

“You don't think he'd… use Naruto to get back at the council…?” Shizune asked slowly.

 

Tsunade shook her head. “Did you see him smile when he said Naruto's name? Naruto can heal him, we just need to give it time, and honestly, Naruto can't help him from behind bars. It will be better for both of them if Naruto is out.”

 

“And how are you going to convince the council?”

 

“I'm not.” Tsunade smiled devilishly. “If you recall, I said I would request parole, however I'm betting on how terrified the council will be to have Sasuke against them again, and this time he'd have Naruto on his side. Also, what Sasuke said is right. If anyone hurt Naruto in any way, Gaara and the rest of Suna would come down on our heads like 10,000 tons of sand, pun intended, and the council knows that. Suna is all fairly fond of Naruto, from what I hear, because Naruto helped to make Gaara no longer a threat to them and a very powerful and caring Kazekage. So I'm just going to request it, but I have a hunch that they will grant him it.”

 

“They'll have the ANBU watching both of them day and night.” Shizune warned. “They've already got the ANBU watching Sasuke every hour of the day because they don't want him in a cell or under house arrest just incase he needs to get Naruto under control in any way; they'll take this opportunity to—”

 

“I've seen how well both Naruto and Sasuke know their chakra and what their techniques are, I'm not worried.” Tsunade smiled, folding up the paper and slipping it into an envelope. “Would you please deliver this to the council's office?”

 

Next Day

 

Sasuke trudged to the door in a pace worthy of only someone as lazy as Shikamaru Nara. To his extreme aggravation, the moron at the door continued to bang on the wood, disturbing his peace more. The banging echoed around the large, open compound like drum beats—though they were extremely irregular—but it did little to make him want to go faster, if anything, he went slower than before.

 

He wasn't bothering to try and sense their chakra, it was probably someone from the village or the council trying to wreck his day more, or even—he shuddered—it might be Sakura again.

 

Sasuke sighed and ran his hand through his hair before reaching out and grasping the doorknob. He began the process of opening the door, just like he always did when another idiot came to visit (not that they were invited), when something smashed into him like a wrecking ball and sent him flying back down the hallway.

 

He jammed his foot into the ground in an effort to stop the same time the other person did, the result being that they flipped themselves all the way up to the balcony on the third floor in the open room in the middle of the main house. Sasuke managed to untangle his feet from the other person's long enough to get them to land safely on the railing so they didn't fall back down, but the other person also mirrored his movements again, trying to get their own feet on the railing, and managed to push them both off the railing.

 

Sasuke oofed loudly as he landed on his back on the third floor balcony and the other person landed on top of him, crushing his lungs, but he didn't even have time to look up to see who it was and attack them before a pair of lips crashed against his own, lips that he recognized only too well.

 

“You're getting faster Dobe.” Sasuke said when they pulled apart, Naruto just grinned widely back at him and hugged him tightly.

 

Sasuke's gaze snapped up at the sudden flash of eight other people in his house and Naruto scrambled off him. He was on his feet by the time the ANBU team had caught up, but it didn't make him feel anymore relaxed.

 

“You didn't break out, did you?” Sasuke hissed to Naruto as the blonde grabbed his arm, threatening to mutilate him with his voice, and Naruto shook his head frantically, stepping up close to him so their bodies were aligned with each other.

 

“Sasuke Uchiha.” One of the ANBU handed him a letter. Sasuke took it quickly, wanting to have them out of his house as soon as possible, and tore the envelope open.

 

 

 

 

 

Uchiha,

 

I didn't bother sending you the formal document from the Council, knowing that you wouldn't want to read it. They have agreed to allow Naruto's parole as long as he is under house arrest until they feel that he is `safe' enough to let out, because apparently he's still on the same status as a rabid dog to them. They said his house arrest sentence time would increase by three months every time the think something suspicious going on. To stay on the safe side and to not lengthen his sentence any longer than is absolutely necessary, I would suggest that no chakra is used at your house at all, including you or anyone who may come to visit you. They will be looking for every excuse to get Naruto locked back up and would probably like it better if he just left the village. I think they would rather him not here even if they were losing the power that he has, so you must be extremely careful about all chakra around you.

 

Godaime Hokage Tsunade

 

 

 

 

 

“What's the old hag say?” Naruto asked, draping himself roughly over Sasuke's shoulders from behind. Sasuke didn't miss the way the ANBU shifted uneasily around them like they would tag team to take all of them down faster than they could blink. Sasuke smirked mentally, he and Naruto could take them all down before they blinked, and it would be fun too. They'd already done it before, and it looked like the ANBU remembered that.

 

“You're stuck here, you can't leave the house.” Sasuke folded the note back up, doing a double take at Naruto's hands on his arm when he saw the metal cuff on Naruto's left wrist, and the distinct seal on it that was only for chakra sealing. Further inspection showed a metal collar around Naruto's neck with the same seal on the front.

 

“We were ordered to stay outside the house.” One of the ANBU said.

 

Sasuke nodded, and with that, the ANBU disappeared and the rustle of tree leaves outside were a give away to where they had gone.

 

“You got any food in this place?” Naruto asked from behind. Sasuke rolled his eyes and led Naruto down to the first floor and into the kitchen.

 

“Help yourself.” He said, leaning against the wall as he watched Naruto ravage the kitchen he was so rarely in. “I'll show you the rest of the house when you're done.”

 

“I've been here before.” Naruto said around a mouthful of god knows what, leaning back so he was looking at Sasuke upside down. Sasuke didn't even know what he had in his fridge.

 

“Don't choke Dobe, and you haven't seen the entire house before, just the main room.”

 

Naruto shrugged and righted himself before diving back into the fridge. “You wouldn't believe how gross the food was in the cell, I'm starving!”

 

Sasuke blinked as he looked at Naruto. It looked like the Dobe was putting on some weight; was it just malnutrition from not eating enough in the cell? (Note: your stomach gets bloated when you're malnourished) Well, Naruto would eat now because he was here, so that was no problem. “Did anyone come to visit you besides me?”

 

Naruto nodded, taking another huge bight out of the fish he had found. “Hinata and Kiba visited the first night I was there, Hinata was crying like crazy for some reason, then Shikamaru, Neji, Ino and Tenten came, Bushy-brow came lots of times, Kakashi sensei brought me some weird stuff that he said would make me more comfortable when I came to stay with you after I got out, I don't really know what it was though…”

 

Sasuke deadpanned. He was going to kill Kakashi. In very painful ways.

 

His brow furrowed. Gaara hasn't come to visit him yet? …That's odd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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