MONSTER

Chapter 54

Sasuke POV:

Earlier that same morning.

Happiness. It was the only word I could think of that truly described how I felt as the memories of my beloved flourished my mind, like a gentle breeze. Softly caressing through the depths of my deepest heart's desires. Desires that, not long ago, seemed like nothing more than pure fantasies. A fleeting mirage of what I could not grasp, nor hope to gain, as the remnants of my heart cried out for thee. Forever trapped within an endless maze and field of golden durum. Chasing an illusion. A dream.

A dream...

I ventured as I raised my head to the thundering falls that cascaded from above and closed my eyes.

...that became real.

I could still feel the fire in his breath as he breathed my name and the chill of it when fire turned to ice as it hitched against my neck. The warmth of his body as it shuddered beneath my own and the pain of the fox's claws as they raked across my back. Trailing down my spine in severed rows of four. The fifth only just. Red from the burning rivers that flowed from above, stinging like acid rain. Cleansing it through what appeared to be some sort of sick and twisted pleasure.

At the time, I didn't even know it happened or exactly when. I just know that when it did, everything changed. My mind plundered as everything around me began to blur. Leaving all but the empyrean allure as I entered a vast new world. A land shrouded in ethereal white and lost within a sea of glistening pearl. Clouded by a bright and blissful haze. A world unlike any I had ever scene. Even in my dreams.

So calm and surreal.

It felt like I was soaring. Higher and higher above the clouds until I was enveloped in a soft and lustrous light. And the best part was...I wasn't alone. Naruto was there with me, every step of the way.

Flashback:

And when I opened my eyes to see rippling tides set ablaze by the demon within, half-lidded and distant, panting beneath me, did my heart give way.

How could he not see just how truly beautiful he really was? To have eyes that burn like fire, so passionate and radiant. Only to be extinguished by the raging currents that lied buried beneath, waiting. To have hair that bloomed like an angelic halo and skin to blessed by the very sun. From angelic to demonic at the mere flicker of an eye. Eyes that remembered the grace from which they fell.

The heavens that they once hailed and called home. So how did he end up here...in this hell that he so undeserved?

"You really are beautiful Naruto." I whispered ever so softly as I gazed into distant crimson fire. A single breath caught in its wake as it hitched in bewilderment. Bringing end to his empyrean and wondrous daze before they turned to mine, wide and in shock.

"I-I-you-me-" He sputtered as he fought to fathom the very words that seemed to echo from my mouth. Words that I was sure he had never truly heard before now. Many may have thought it, whispered it, even taken it from him, but the truth was...Naruto was always beautiful. Inside and out. "You really think I'm…" His voice trailed as his words died on the tip of his tongue and his eyes began to water.

"Yes." I breathed as my lips brushed against his in a soft lingering kiss.

"Even now?" The blond quivered beneath my lips.

"Definitely now." I smiled as I kissed away the single tear that trickled down his whiskered cheek and watched as crimson flame revealed twinkling azure once more.

Because no matter the monster you think you'll become and no matter the demon you say you are. I will always think of you as beautiful, Naruto. And you will always be my Dobe.

End Flashback.

I smiled to myself as I recalled the memories of recent and stepped out of the shower into a veil of caressant steam. Once dried, I made my way to the bedroom where I rummaged through my drawers for what felt like hours looking for an outfit. Tossing and throwing pieces of clothing as I went, getting more and more frustrated as I did.

By the time I had finally found something I had mutilated two drawers, a laundry basket and an entire closet. All for a simple white quarter-length sleeve shirt, embroidered with the symbol of my clan. Ashen black pants loosely tucked under high black nin sandals and lastly a pair of onyx wrist cuffs to make up for the lack of bandages I typically like to wear whenever I train. The style was pretty simple for the most part, maybe a little edgy, but...it suited me.

The longer I gazed upon my reflection into the mirror, the more distant my mind seemed to wander. Down a river and into the past as the pools of my memory began to ripple. Freeing images of my once beloved older brother. Images, that at one point in time, brought such joy to my young and fragile heart, but now...they brought what only could be described as sorrow and despair as they tormented me so. Staring back at me as if he was standing right before me.

There was a sharp pang to my neck where the curse mark lied as I cast my gaze away in shame. My ears ringing with that of the demon that cursed me as he softly hissed my name like the vial snake that he was. "Sssasuke." I guess in the years that I had grown, somewhere along the lines, I had started to look more and more like the man that I wished not to be.

How could I have not seen until now...just how alike he and I truly were?

When I finally had the courage to raise my stygian gaze once more, he had vanished. Leaving me once again to the mercy of my own reflection.

I guess it's time for a trim.

Making my way to the bathroom with a pair of scissors I quietly began to snip away. Whatever remnants of my brother had come to pass during those long months of training quickly began to disappear. With each strand that fell at my feet, the more of myself I started to see and the more of myself I came to feel.

By the time I was finished I was reminded of what I looked like as a child. Bangs once again cascaded in locks of stygian silk over my eyelids. Hair that used to flow several inches passed my chin now only few and the back no longer slightly weighed down but in full bloom as it spiked around.

There. That's more like it. I smiled to myself before it was instantly washed away with a sense of dread and worry as I thought of a certain spikey-haired blonde. How it was only a few nights ago that he had told me how much he liked it and how much he thought I'd…

Shit, I cursed as memories of a night laid side by side with the boy I cherished so, flooded my ever rampant mind. Sakura had disappeared sometime in the night, leaving just the two of us. How could I forget? Especially when he had that look in his eyes. Eyes that showed such sorrow. A pain far worse than even death itself, but also...such hope. Burning with a passionate fire that glowed even under tearful skies that rained down upon the earth and flooded the oceans. Such hope...for a dream that could never come true.

Flashback:

"Hey...Sasuke?" I turned to the softness that was his voice as he so timidly cried out for me. Reaching for what even I had not the heart to turn away from. Not anymore. "Can't sleep?" I asked with a knowing smile as he gently shook his head. A sadness in his eyes and a look that I never seen before. One that pierced my very soul.

"What is it? Did you...have another nightmare?"

He didn't have to answer. He merely had to shyly cast his gaze away and clutch the pillow upon which he rested. "You don't have to tell me about it...if you don't want to." I gently stated as his eyes returned to mine. "No, I…" The boy replied as he nervously bit his bottom lip and trailed off. "It's just-will you...tell me...about your mother?"

It was a question I wasn't prepared for. Silence befell the room as my mind went into utter shock and disbelief. All I could do was stare at the boy that laid across from me. "You don't have to. I just...Sometimes when I dream...I see what maybe she could have looked like. What she could have smelled like...or even sounded like. When I was little, I used to dream of her singing me to sleep. She had such a beautiful voice. I can still remember the words. It always felt so real. I don't know why all the sudden I the memory of her came back to me...especially since she was never there to begin with."

There's only so much the heart can take. Only so much one can endure and hold back. For me...that was it. The moment I had no choice but to finally open up about what I had lost. How she used to make all my favorite dishes and tuck me to sleep at night. How she used to hum while she tended to her garden and make a wish every time a ladybug landed on her hand. How she always held her head up...no matter the cause. And how she used to sing when she thought no one was listening. How much she would always tell me that she loved me and that one day I would become strong like my father and brother. And how much...she didn't deserve to die. And how much I didn't understand why my brother did what he did. Or why he left me alive. Why couldn't I have died with the rest of them? Why couldn't he have sent me to be with the people I loved most in this world? Why did I have to survive?

I was angry, sad, and betrayed, but more than anything...I was heartbroken. Sobs of mournful cry drowned what silence befell us not moments ago. Soothed only by the caressing voice of the fox that soon echoed and filled my heart. "You're mother sounds beautiful." He smiled through tears of empathy and sorrow. "She was." I whispered softly, as if to ease my own suffering. The boy then reached out as if to wipe away the tears, but instead ran his fingers through locks stygian silk, studying it profusely. His smile never wavering.

"Did your mother have hair like yours?" He asked, my head only nodding in response. "I bet if you grew it out...you'd look just like her. And I bet...it'd be really pretty." He added as he quietly giggled, washing away whatever sorrow remained. Bringing the light back into this darkened world that we both called home.

End Flashback.

That was when it hit me. The idea for the perfect date for this evening.

Shaking my hair and making my way to the living room I checked the time. A little behind schedule but still plenty of time to prepare. It didn't seem like much, and maybe it wasn't, but to me it was everything and more. It was something that maybe both Naruto and I really needed. Something that was personal and just the two of us. Something that we could share together and never forget.

But first, lunch at Ichiraku's since we had already planned it and were meeting there this afternoon and since he and I had still never been with just the two of us. It seemed like a lifetime ago since that day in class when Naruto had first asked me. He was such a dobe. I almost couldn't believe it.

I was supposed to be alone. Doomed to forever walk this cold and vengeful path. Completely lost in my own anger and self absorbed darkness. There wasn't supposed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. There wasn't supposed to be another to walk alongside me in this treacherous forest of misery, where the ghost of our past haunted us so. I was never supposed to be happy.

But from the very first moment he tried to speak to me, that all went away. I was only fooling myself into thinking that it hadn't. That I was still doomed to a life of pain and of loneliness. It was almost as if Naruto had taken my hand and lead me out of that darkened forest and on a different path. A path neither one of knew where it lead and we didn't care...because the darkness was now behind us.

xXxXx

Naruto POV:

Sasuke was waiting for me. I could feel it as I leaped from rooftop to rooftop. The shingles chiming ever so softly as I went. Kiba was behind me now, laid to peace. We were friends again and that's all that mattered. Though we could never be anything more my heart still carried with him.

Life is unfair, cruel, and often unjust. There's just not much we can do about it. The only thing we can do is keep trying. Keep trying so that one day, you'll see that light at the end of the tunnel and who knows...Maybe that special someone will be waiting for you on the other side.

And mine...mine happens to be waiting on me right now because I'm running really late.

Aw man, Sasuke's gonna kill me! And just wait until he finds out that Kiba tried to-

It was a sharp intake of breath and then a sudden halt as my eyes landed on that of which they sought and my heart pounded. For what my eyes had seen...was truly the most beautiful thing in the entire world. There, only a mere distance below me, was a boy or should I say a raven. A raven with hair a black silk, skin white as the winter snow and eyes that dare challenged the very essence of night.

Sasuke was darkness in its most beautiful form. The moon that rivaled the very light of the sun. A reflection of pure beauty.

Wow, I whispered to myself, still lost in the daze that stood before me. I was at a loss for words. I just couldn't understand it. Couldn't understand how it was...that I got so lucky to have someone like Sasuke. Maybe life was finally showing my a little bit of mercy. And I couldn't be happier. The only thing I could other than stare at the boy who changed my entire life for the better and gave me something finally worth living for...was smile.

It was everything I ever wanted.

And he said I was beautiful?

Sasuke POV:

It wasn't long after I got there that my mind began to race as the clock ticked by. It wasn't that Naruto was late that bothered me. It was the reasons as to why he wasn't here. My heart pounded as my blood began to boil in my veins, sick with worry. My mind treading dangerous waters as it pondered the very thought of something awful happening to the angelic fox. And what I would do if anything were to happen to the one I call my love.

I would burn this very village to the ground and bring its people to their knees. I would bestow upon them the same amount of mercy that they showed him. None. No one would be safe. Only those that I deemed worthy would survive.

It was funny. I spent all this time trying to avoid being like my brother when the sad truth was...deep down...I may be even worse.

As my mind began to slow and I thought of more plausible and less unsettling reasons as to why Naruto was running late I was put more at ease. Maybe Iruka-sensei stopped by early that morning and stayed to make breakfast before he went to class. Or maybe Naruto just woke up late. Had to run errands or maybe...hang on.

If I recalled correctly Naruto had mentioned the other night about possibly going to see how that mut and his dog were doing at the hospital. Just thinking about that jackass made my skin crawl. The way he was looking at Naruto, My Naruto, after the match...and holding his hand with that stupid longing look in his eyes. Man, I really hate that guy. Almost as much as that stupid Haku.

Grrrr, now thinking about that asshole has my blood boiling. And then there was that guy with the bushy brows.

"Sasuke."

With his stupid face and sparkling teeth.

"Sasuke."

And that-

"Sasuke!"

Huh?

I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't even heard someone calling my name. When I had finally snapped out of it I was only met with awe as my eyes instantly fell into thundering tides of ocean blue.

Naruto.

"Couldn't you hear me?" He asked with a small and confused smile on his whiskered face. His locks of sunlight drifting ever so slightly over seas of twinkling azure, creating what looked like the perfect sunrise. "Uh..ya...sorry. I was just…thinking." I answered as if still lost in my own fantasies.

"Oh? About what?" The fox asked intrigued.

Seeing him, like this, standing before me, made it seem like nothing else mattered. Because now, it was just two of us.

"You. Now come on. I'm starving. My treat." I smiled, bringing a slight blush to tint the blonde's sun-kissed cheeks. And without another word, I simply took him by the hand and lead him inside.

To be continued…

Honestly, I had a whole rant for why this took so long and my irritating case of annoying writer's block lol but I'm just really happy I finally finished it. It's split into two parts because as usual I tend to drag things out. I had an idea for another NaruSasu story that has been nagging at the back of my head. Won't leave me alone lol! I really hope it doesn't take this long for the next one. Hope you guys are still following or even remember what's going on in this story anymore. So much has happened for me to disappear for so long. Anyway, next chapter should be finishing up this date and then on to following Sakura and I mean hey, Gaara is still in town for the time beings so...who knows what could happen between those two lol ;)

I hope everyone is well and as always I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear your comments, opinions, reviews, ideas...etc and I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time! See you next chapter:)