Consider the Lilies

Hi everyone. This is the end of our journey in understanding mental stigma and knowing that we aren't so different from the people who bleed the same. Although A Most Beautiful Mind is ending, this is just the beginning of All Quiet are the Roses of Thorns. That story will be posted in two days friends. Once again, it has been such a beautiful experience.

Four Years Later

He could never see flowers too many times. He could never tire of their sweet fragrance. Each one was a delicate bloom, no matter if it was a formal garden or a waste land. Their petals were delicate works of art and their hues were medicine for his mind.

Itachi supposed it wasn't only him that felt that way though. He and Naruto brought flowers into the hospitals and graveyards, sent them to express their love, planted them in their yards though they bared no edible fruits. Naruto spent a lot of time replacing them along the streets and as soon as they browned, more were brought in.

There was something about their beauty Itachi needed for his whole being, to be fully human, he wondered if they were all a bit like that. Without the flowers, it would only be concrete, and he thought the drop in temperature would freeze his mind.

And his mind was beautiful, Naruto always told him. Even if the surgery had only changed his mind and not his personality, Itachi's mind was still beautiful.

"Mommy?"

He tightened the flowers in fingertips so they would not touch his palms. Turning, he smiled at his daughter. Kasumi looked much like Kisame and so unlike other girls of her age.

Her skin was as pale as his, but it held a very light blue tint to it. Much like Kisame, her eyes seemed pupiless and her dark irises expanded all too much. At only three, Kasumi stood at 50 inches, ten inches above the average height of kids her age.

All in all, Kasumi was different. Like Kisame, she enjoyed fighting and was quite sadistic.

"Yes, love."

"Are we going to give the flowers uncle Deidara and uncle Naruto?"

Itachi smiled at the mention of his blond haired best friend. Even if his mind wasn't so odd anymore, he and Naruto couldn't and wouldn't be torn apart.

Naruto was there every second, meeting Itachi for tea and chats. He was there when Itachi was hospitalized again after fainting and Kisame had stayed there with him, taking Kasumi to his and Sasuke's house as many times as necessary. Not once did he ever ask for money. He took Kasumi with a smile and handed her back happy and fed.

During the years where his surgery was still a work in progress, Itachi could rely on him to tell him that everything would work out fine.

Then Kasumi's kidneys failed at just three. And it was Naruto and Itachi's turn to be the rocks. They had seen each other cry, seen the very foundations be kicked out from one another, and they were still men in each other's eyes, still 'brothers.'

There was no friend Itachi would walk into battle beside so willingly, but Naruto's fights were his and vice versa. One day, they'd be old men on a bench sipping tea and eating scones, before tottering with walking canes through the park.

Itachi held Kasumi's hand gently. "Come on, then."

"Now. It's a new spring semester." Deidara spoke softly to the room full of college freshman. All seemed so eager to learn as they sat before their canvases. "My brother always says that classes will dull your mind."

Sasori smiled as he came to stand near his husband. "But you shouldn't listen to any words he'll say about his brother. The guy's crazy."

Deidara hit him upon the arm, making his students laugh.

A student raised their hand. "Naruto-sensei is your brother, right Deidara-sensei?"

Deidara smiled and nodded. "And he's a genius, so everything he says is right. And this idiot here is my husband, your second professor."

"Do you really think this class will dull our minds?"

Deidara laughed. "Of course But hopefully this art course will teach you the beauty of life. In this course, art is going to teach you that life, no matter the obstacles, no matter the hardships, is beautiful." The students smiled softly at him. "Life is sacred."

There was a soft knock on the door and Deidara turned, finding Kasumi standing there with lilies in her hand. She lifted them up with her arms. "We brought you flowers before the show, uncle Deidara."

"Aww." He spoke aloud, going to pick up the small child as Itachi walked in. "See. Take my niece for example. When she was only three both her kidneys failed, but there was hope of course."

Itachi smiled. "That's right. I was going through lots of seizures and faintings due to my surgery and her father didn't have her blood type. But Naruto did. So he gave Kasumi a kidney."

"That's sweet." A female student awwed. "Is he your best friend?"

Itachi laughed softly. "Of course."

The students smiled sadly. Almost as if she knew the things that had happened. Almost as if she felt sorry for them. "Did he...does he really-"

"Yeah...yeah." Itachi interrupted, wanting to feel at ease on this day.

"Are we going to uncle Naruto now, mommy?"

Itachi shook his head as they got out of the car. "Not yet. He should be over though, lover. Come on inside."

Kisame sat on the couch folding clothes when they walked in. He smiled softly at his husband as Kasumi ran toward him, hugging him and telling him all about how they got to see Deidara and Sasori.

"And we got to bring them lilies and stuff."

"That's great, beautiful. How are you feeling?"

Kasumi inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I'm feeling alright. One of uncle Deidara's students asked about uncle Naruto and how he-"

"That's enough, Sumi." Itachi interrupted. When they both looked toward him, the man shook his head sadly. "I'm going for a walk, alright?"

"Tachi…" his husband began.

"I'll be fine. Tell Sasuke not to worry. I'll be fine. I love you two."

"Love you too, mommy."

As Itachi left, he knew the gentle scolding would begin. Not too harsh to scare his daughter, but just enough to warn her. You can't talk about your uncle Naruto's condition in front of your mother, sumi. He's….

Itachi stopped thinking so much as he climbed the water tower, his go to haven where thinking got a bit easier.

It was sad, he supposed. And very queer. Very queer that the unhappiness of the world was brought on by small failures in life. Brought onto small men.

When Naruto gave Kasumi one of his kidneys, the girl became prosperous. She could play sports and breath properly and do all the things she couldn't before.

But Naruto couldn't.

Naruto's life ceased physically. There was no place people could find him now if it weren't his lab or library.

His daily jogs stopped. Lots of things stopped. The way he could use his legs properly without them collapsing occasionally. The way he could joke around.

Just months ago, the man had spazzed out onto the floor. Even with Itachi hyperventilating. Even with Kakashi sobbing and sobbing nonstop, Naruto still smiled. He'd woken up in the hospital hours later. When they'd told him that he'd have to use a cane to get by, the man just laughed softly.

"I guess I gave Sumi the good kidney, right Tachi?"

But it wasn't funny. And Kakashi said he'd punch Naruto's stomach if his kidney wasn't so bad.

And Itachi said nothing. Because he wasn't strong enough.

Naruto always said it was fine. When he tripped down the stairs and his legs gave out, and Itachi would fret more than the worrying Sasuke, he said it was fine. When he ran out of breath just from playing with Sumi, he said it was fine. When the students at Deidara's art school used to laugh at the way he walked, he said it was fine.

But, it wasn't really. If it weren't for Sasuke, Itachi supposed Naruto would be terribly alone. Because when Naruto would spazz and faint and fall and lose breath, Itachi would cry and feel guilty for not being strong enough and leave and worry. But Sasuke was there to be strong. He took Naruto to the hospitals and worked out with him and pushed him to move forward.

"Match in the gas tank boom boom."

The man looked down, finding Sasuke there already dressed, his pregnant belly rubbing against the rusty bars of the water tower.

Itachi smiled softly at his younger brother. "Match in the gas tank boom boom." He repeated Just as Sasuke smiled and placed his hand around a bar, Itachi shook his head "No, Sasuke. You shouldn't while you're pregnant."

Climbing down, Itachi hugged his brother. "You alright? You didn't fall or anything on your way, did you?"

"No...Kisame told me that you left and...are you okay?"

Itachi smiled softly. "Yeah...just thinking is all."

"Well don't. We know how you get. Itachi?"

"Yeah?"

"Naruto's fine. He doesn't worry about anything, you know."

Itachi shook his head. "I know. I worry enough for the both of us."

And it was true. Because Naruto's remaining kidney was the bad kidney, he often experienced the downfalls of life with it.

Sometimes, his face or ankles would swell. Or even his fingers and toes would go numb. That was the worst, because he couldn't really work in his lab. Sometime he would vomit until the point of hospitalization for an hour.

Itachi thought it was his fault. He should have been stronger after the surgery. He should have gave his daughter a kidney. Naruto shouldn't have gone through any pain. Shouldn't have changed himself.

Sasuke sighed. "Come on. You know he wants to see everyone before the ceremony."

Naruto inhaled deeply. When he didn't let out a breath, Kakashi, who had been fixing the blond's tie hit him light;y.

Only then did he breathe again. "Sorry, tousan. I'm so nervous. Now I think I should have written a speech. Goodness, I'm so silly at times."

Itachi bit his finger nail, his eyes straying from Naruto's cane to his alert blue eyes. "Please calm down." He asked with no emotion.

"I am calm. I just have nothing to say once I receive my award. I wish you didn't make me come, Sasuke."

The pregnant rolled his eyes at his husband. "Calm down. Just speak from your heart."

A bell rang and Sasuke smiled. "They're announcing your awards soon. Come on."

Naruto nodded and began moving his cane forward, letting Kakashi help him along the way.

"And now announcing the winner of both the Nobel Prize in Science as well as the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto began to stand and Itachi almost stood too before the blond shook his head. "I got it, Ita. I got it. I promise."

The raven watched him before sitting back next to Obito.

And true to his word, Naruto made it up the stairs to the stage without falling or dropping his cane.

He took the time to adjust his microphone, earning a few laughs from the large audience. "I never expected to win a Nobel prize. A Pulitzer prize, yes, but not these two."

This earned a few laughs from the crowd and Naruto smiled. "I don't have a speech prepared. And my husband told me to speak from my heart, so here I go.

I suppose this is about my latest book. The Heart, the Mind, and the Soul: The Unexpected Beauty of Humankind. And I suppose I should start from the beginning. In school, I was never taught things about people like my best friend, Itachi Uchiha. In fact, I had to learn everything about mentally disabled people on my own because they refused to teach us things like that. And it wasn't because they couldn't.

I was just sixteen when I came to realize - first with astonishment, then bitterness, and finally with indifference - that intellect apparently wasn't the most important thing...not ideas, but the system; not freedom, but drill. I had joined up with enthusiasm and with good will; but school did everything to knock that out of me.

I'm an intelligent man. I know this because of my equations. But, there are far more people in this world then those in your old village. Or those next door. I'd never had a true friend before Itachi, but when I met him, I knew. He was the inspiration for my book. The reason I wanted to eliminate mental sigma. He was the reason this book was such a success. He was the mind."

Naruto laughed softly, looking down almost sad.

"And then I'd met the soul. Thoroughly broken and in need of a fix. I'd met trouble and trauma after just having a walk. I'd realized that life could only be as large as we made it. Or unfortunately so, as large as others made it for us. But there was light. There was light in a troubled man's eyes and I knew I didn't need reasoning or logic to realize that the sol was actually an organ. My brother Deidara had become a soul. A beautiful dove, everyone."

Deidara blew a soft kiss to Naruto as Sasori kissed the man's hand.

"When I first moved to Konoha some years ago, I'd met the most beautiful people in my life. And I suppose it's great to realize a beautiful mind and soul. But it is an even greater gift to find a beautiful heart.

I never knew that I could be taught. I knew everything when it came to vector fields and space and math, but I had no real intentions to learn about human contact. If you all could see my reactions when I first began to feel love. I was afraid. Afraid of a heart that had somehow kissed mine. And that same heart has given me a reason to come here."

Naruto smiled at his emotional husband.

"I've always believed in numbers, in equations, in logic and reason. But after a lifetime of such pursuits: I ask 'what truly is logic? Who decides reason?' My quest has taken me to the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional, and back. I have made the most important discovery of my career - the most important discovery of my life.

It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found. Sasuke Uchiha, I am only here tonight because of you. You are the only reason I am. You are all my reasons. Thank you."

After tucking Kasumi in bed, Itachi began walking around the house, as if he'd forgotten something. He walked slowly into the kitchen and his eyes widened. Grabbing the sweet object, the raven left the house quickly.

He knocked on his brother's door and smiled when Naruto was the one to open it. "Itachi, what are you doing here?"

Itachi pushed out the flowers. "Sumi and I were bringing flowers to you all today and I forgot to give you yours."

Naruto regarded him for a while; he and the flowers. Itachi's eyes were squinted and his fingers were in his mouth. Eventually, the man dropped his cane and hugged his best friend tightly, voice croaking as so many good memories passed over the atmosphere. "Oh, Tachi. You haven't changed a bit."

Well, I suppose that would be a good way to cut it off. I hope you all understood that happiness cannot just come to you. I also hope you realize that sadness cannot define how you choose to live life. Because in the end, it's not a sad story. It's not a happy story. It's a life story.

Once again, thank you all for reviewing and be sure to check out All Quiet are the Roses of Thorns in two days. One more message:

I only write because of you all. You all are the only reason I am. You are all my reasons.

Thank you beautiful people.