More //narusasu//

36. The Letter

He headed out to the markets, his supplies had already been restocked, now all he needed was a hot dinner. The markets were busy that night, people were getting everything ready for an upcoming festival. Lights were being put up, stalls were being placed. Sasuke smiled a little, seeing people roaming around in groups, some families, a few couples holding hands, children running in the streets.

The young ladies of the village however, kept their eyes on the new treat out and about in the village that night. The raven received seductive looks as well as quite a few lustful advances. Women were throwing themselves on the young, raven haired, muscular man. Everyone wanted to be the one that the mysterious looking man would bed that night. The raven on the other hand didn't care neither noticed anything, he had other things on mind. His mission, his dinner and a certain blonde human.

Coming back to the land of humans from another dimension always felt like he was so very close to his blonde. He had to fight the urge to teleport to him even for a minute, just to see him, many times. But he couldn't jeopardize the mission like that, this mission had shaped up to become above all of them. An extraterrestrial threat would be disastrous, and he wanted to diminish the possibility of that happening as much as he could. So distractions were unacceptable.

The raven eventually found a little eatery around the corner of the market street. He sat down and ordered some rice balls and tomato soup to go with it. Just when he was done ordering, he saw a child, no more than twelve, relishing onto a bowl of ramen. The raven smiled, it reminded him of only one person, him. Everything reminded of him. Sasuke ended up getting a serving of ramen as well, to celebrate the memories of his blonde man, who however old or strong might be, still had a child within him.

He enjoyed his meal, payed for it and made his way back to the inn he was staying at for the night before he resumed the mission. While walking he was interrupted by someone running into him, literally running into him and was about to fall when the Uchiha grabbed them and helped them on their feet. It was a woman, a young, beautiful woman.

"Are you alright?", the raven asked politely.

"O-Oh I'm a-alright thankyou mister", the woman said blushing hard.

The raven satisfied by her reply was about to walk again when two delicate, polished hands going around his arms stopped him.

"You look lonely mister. Why don't you allow me to thank you properly by letting me join you tonight?", the woman said as seductively as she possibly could.

The raven gave her an irritated look. "There's no need for that".

The woman instantly put her hands on the raven's chest, as she flaunted her slender body, "Oh do you not want to see whats beneath these clothes mister?", she tried sounding very innocent as she pressed her breasts between her arms.

"I actually don't. Now if you'll excus-", the raven's speech drifted away by recognizing something far away in the sky behind the woman. A bird.

Garuda...Naruto.

Sasuke forgot about the woman and what she was saying, he started walking briskly towards the direction of the bird arriving. He only slowed down when Garuda had reached him, as it sat on his shoulder.

"Good work Garuda", he said as he grabbed the piece of paper that was tied to the hawk's feet. Sasuke immediately jumped to the roof of a tall building and sat down, as he took a deep breath and opened the letter.

To Sasuke.

I am proud of you and the work you're doing. Just know that warm arms await you whenever you decide to come home.

I love you always.
Naruto.

That was it. Sasuke didn't know what to expect from the letter before he opened it. But he had predicted long verses, with words of all sorts. But this, he did not expect.

When did he start acting like a grownup?, he thought smiling.

I am proud of you. Such a simple sentence, that carried so much weight to it. He loved every single word in the small, intimate writing. He brought the letter to his chest and closed his eyes. Then he brought it to his nose and took a deep breath.

Naru...

How long had it been since he saw him? Three years. Three fucking years. He had deprived himself and the blonde of love for three whole years.
Something in the raven stirred, he felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time...sadness. His heart was aching all of a sudden. He didn't expect that a mere letter from his blonde would bring up so many emotions within him. Emotions that he had buried deep, deep down after he took up the mission.

I can't think...like that. I can't. I shouldn't..

He folded the paper and put it inside his pocket, got up and made his way to the inn, where he spent a sleepless sort of a night. His mind consumed by the sun itself. Warm arms await you, it had read. Warm arms. His arms. Home. Naruto..

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

Six months later, a portal was opened somewhere in the Land of Fire. A certain Uchiha rolled out of it frantically and instantly closed the portal.

Phew! That was close!

The disoriented, dusty raven stood up and checked up on himself for any serious injuries. A dislocated shoulder and a few broken limbs, he noticed, not counting the multiple bruises throughout his whole body.

I need a medic...fucking great, he thought.