More //narusasu//

35. What Kept Them Going

"Congratulations on becoming jounin Konohamaru", the hokage of the Leaf village praised his younger ex student.

"Haha thanks alot big brothe- I mean Lord hokage", the young brunette replied.

"We ought to celebrate. My treat okay? Off you go now", pride was evident on the blonde's face.

"Really? Alright! I'm gonna make you buy me drinks at the club then. This weekend, don't be late big brother!", Konohamaru said excitedly and ran outside the hokage office before the blonde could protest.

Naruto laughed and sat back into his chair, reminiscing the days when he had taught the young brunette his signature sexy style jutsu, and eventually a jutsu as complex as the rasengan.

Ah good old days. Hmm speaking of old days.

He reached into the third drawer of his desk and took out a piece of paper. It was a letter, well more of a report than a letter, from the shadow hokage himself.

It read:

To the Hokage.
Much of the white zetsu lairs have been found and demolished in the other nations as well as the smaller villages surrounding them. But I have come to know that that's not the entirety of our problems.

It seems that when we encountered Kaguya, the encounter hid a larger threat. I have been spending much of my time traveling and following leads through different dimensions.

An ancient scroll has been attached with this letter that I retrieved from the last dimension I went to. Hope we can decrypt it in time.

Sasuke Uchiha.

The blonde sighed, then read the letter again, then again. The letter was a year old. The scroll had been decrypted, the writing was vague but it referred to a deeper threat, something bigger than what they had encountered before. The Uchiha had been gone for around two years now for this very reason.

Two years, five months and fourteen days, the blonde thought.

This letter was one of the five that they had received in total from the raven. Naruto missed him. He missed him very very much. The last time he heard from the raven was six months ago, it was a letter that simply said that he was in the process of making his way into the next dimension and that he would be out of reach for an indefinite amount of time. That's it. That was all.

For the hokage of the hidden leaf, that amount of information was enough from an elite Shinobi. The work was being done and that was enough.
But for the person who had given his heart to the said Shinobi, it wasn't near enough. He wanted to know how his darling raven was, if he was hurt, if he had to face too much trouble, if he was eating alright . He wanted to know when would he be back, when would he be able to hear his voice again. When would he be able to hold him again, to feel his warmth again.

So many questions and noone to answer them, such were the past two plus years for the blonde. Despite that, he couldn't help but be proud of the Shinobi his lover was, being on a mission noone else could even begin to anticipate. He was proud of how tough and hardworking he was. Thats what kept the blonde going, that feeling of pride and eternal love that he had for the Uchiha. That's what kept him smiling through the cold, lonely nights. He also knew that the raven must've had it worse, even though he hoped that that wasn't the case.

The Uchiha was tough but who knew what beheld in those twisted dimensions of the aliens. What threats and dangers awaited him there, physical or mental. On rare occasions, just thinking about this, the blonde did get scared for his raven man. It was a weird feeling, maybe that's what the families of the Shinobi felt like.

Family.

Sasuke was his family, his whole world, his whole heart. He loved him so much that it sometimes did scare him a little. The blonde would then remind himself of the last encounter he had with the Uchiha on the gates of the village, the day he had left.

Flashback:

It was early in the morning, the people of the village were setting up their businesses for another day to come. The two young Shinobi made their way to the village gates, walking in silence.

They halted at a little distance away from the gates. The raven didn't want to prolong his goodbye with the blonde, the only one he had come to love.

"I know you want to keep this as short as you have to. So just...come back to me in one piece now will ya?", the blonde broke the silence, and gave one of his gorgeous smiles.

The raven smiled at how well the blonde knew him. Idiot.

"Naruto...", the raven took a step closer to the blonde, careful as to not get too close. "Your faith...is my strength. Goodbye Naru", saying that he left the next second and didn't look back or wait for any sort of reply.

End of flashback.

Naruto meant to keep that faith strong, for however long it would take. He would wait for the Uchiha his whole life if he had to. That faith was what kept him going.

                      - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was hard to find a place to rest in this dimension made of pure rock and ice. The weather was brutal and there was only vast land and hills made of ice and rock as far as the eye could see. Sasuke had been wandering in this wasteland for the past four days. Four days which felt like four weeks to him. He had been walking on no sleep for more than a day now and his body was already giving him hints to rest up.

He had found a castle on the third day, in which he found another scroll. But the fact that it could really be a dud, the search for more leads was still going on. He wanted to cover up as much ground as he could before leaving this place.

When he could no longer walk, the raven started looking for a place to rest for the time being. Was it day or night? What time was it? He didn't know. The sky remained cloudy and smoky all day long. He eventually found a cave like rock in the middle of nowhere, and decided to lay seige.

He made a small fire to try keeping himself warm. Warmth. What was warmth again? Ah yes, warmth was the embrace of his lover. Warmth was his blue eyes and his contagious smile. Warmth was the color of his hair, as bright as the sun itself. That was the warmth he needed right now.

The raven lay there, his cloak being the only thing away from the cold floor underneath him. During his whole mission he tried to think as little as possible about what he was missing back home...who was he missing back home. But the thoughts came knocking at his mind more often than not. The fact that he was probably being missed just as much and more, much much more, was what kept the raven going.

The feeling of someone waiting for him back home. It was crazy to the raven. How he had come to be the one without a family and a home, only to find both in just one person. He was his family, he was his home. That feeling of belonging was what kept him going, wandering through one wasteland to the other.

Sasuke felt his eyes drooping, as a particular smiling face kept him constant company. The memories of their last night together came rushing in. The blonde's soft touch, his gentle, beautiful self,  the countless kisses they shared. How long it had been? He didn't know. Four days in a foreign dimension could mean four years in his own for all he knew.

What are you doing right now Naruto? Are you thinking of me? Like I'm thinking of you. Do you miss me? Like I miss you. Are you waiting for me? Like I have been waiting to get back to you. Do you still love me? Like I love you. I love you..

"I love you so much Naru...", the raven whispered unknowingly, as he slowly drifted off to a much needed sleep.

That's what kept them going...eachother.