For: mimire
From: vi_ta_min
Title: Gravity in red
Rating: PG - 13
Summary: On the strength of bonds and the absolute value love. Sasuke is bound and Naruto leaves.
Warnings: Some potty mouth, bizarre turns of conversations, sentimentality and sparse backgrounds because I’m lazy.
A/N: When I read my exchangee’s prompt I just kept thinking up storylines and the request was for art. So I decided to fulfil the request with a combo move. Hopefully I fulfilled your requirements! ;)
Mod note: Reminder for the author/artist of this submission, please do not reply to comments signed in, if you want to reply anon commenting is enabled.
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---
“Is it alright if I sit here?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks. Hey, have I seen you somewhere before?”
“Excuse me?”
“Ah, maybe not. I’m Uzumaki Naruto!”
“Uchiha Sasuke, it’s a pleasure making your acquaintance, Uzumaki-san.”
“Haha, it always startles me when people refer to me as ‘san’ here.”
“Ah.”
“I mean, if it’s not obvious from my looks, I’m not native to Japan though I lived here with my parents for a while when I was young. We live in Canada now though, do you live in Tokyo?”
“Yes.”
“You must work in the city then, I mean, with your suitcase and suit. It looks like you’re on your way to work. Geez though, the Japanese sure are industrious, I’m only up this early so I can get a clean room at whichever hostel I stumble onto. My friend Kiba recommends the Asaukusa and the Taito districts for good places to crash. He’s sorta really loud and annoying, but he’s trustworthy. Hey, do you have any recommendations? I mean, since you live here and all.”
“I am not familiar with hostels.”
“You’ve never been travelling before?”
“I am the president of my - my family’s company. I have never indulged in leisure travel.”
“You’re missing out on life! It’s such a thrill to go out into the world, I mean, you meet so many interesting people! Kiba, I mentioned him earlier, is someone I met while on the road. And it’s not just the people, it’s the appreciation of the world we live in. It’s so vast, so colourful. When you watch the news, you see so much of the pain that exists, but when you’re travelling you’re seeing, sometimes even participating, in other people’s joys and - well, I guess I’m a bit addicted. Haven’t you ever wanted to? Even the slightest?”
“ I - no, I’ve been busy.”
“You can’t have been busy all your life! I’m in the middle of grad school, but I still find time for travel.”
“It’s too complicated to explain right now.”
“It’s not my stop yet.”
---
Sasuke stepped off the train wondering how he ended up telling a foreigner so much about his life in so short a time span. Perhaps he could wait on the car purchase for a while longer. Tokyo traffic was terrible anyways.
---
“Sasuke! I mean, Sasuke-san!”
“You again.”
“Hey, hey, don’t give me that look. I’m not stalking you I swear. I just came in here for a drink.”
“I’m sure. I thought you were in Tokyo to visit a godfather. Are you not-a-liar the same way you’re not-a-stalker?”
“Don’t be mean. That old pervert’s back in Atami-city right now. It’s cause of the hot springs there.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah, but I’m came in from Nagasaki actually. Trying to get some culture in my life, cause that’s where that opera, ‘Madame Butterfly’ was set, you know? Or something like that I think. Hinata told me about it cause she knows about stuff like that, Sakura just told me not to eat too much or she’ll beat me for being stupid. I think that’s pretty unfair! I mean, delayed positive punishment really isn’t great reinforcement. I always thought that operant conditioning was totally cool cause then you can train all sorts of animals to do stuff; I thought about training an army of frogs cause lots of people are freaked out by frogs. Hey, do you know how operant conditioning works cause I can totally -“
“Yes. I’m not some idiot who talks too much and doesn’t pay attention after all.”
“Oh good cause - Hey! That’s mean. You’re a bit of a bastard huh? That’s okay though, I know a lot of bastards who aren’t really total jerks. Like Neji, he’s Hinata’s cousin, but he was so mean to her when they were kids.”
“Hyuuga?”
“Bless you.”
“No you idiot. Are you talking about Hyuuga Neji-san and Hyuuga Hinata-san?”
“Yeah! Do you know them They’re really cool though Hinata’s dad is super strict, I don’t think he entirely likes me.”
“How did a hobo drifter like you meet that bunch of elitist traditionalists?”
“Jeez, Sasuke. We’ve only known each other for a little while and no offense, but isn’t you calling someone else an ‘elistist traditionalist’ a bit pot, kettle, black?”
“What the hell are you talking about? What do pots and kettles have to do with anything?”
“It’s a North American idiom that says “pot calling the kettle black” when they’re both black.”
“So you’re calling me a hypocrite?”
“Hey, hey, don’t take it so personally. I’m mostly just teasing!”
“Who the hell do you think you are to judge me?”
“Am I wrong?”
“Upholding my familial duty does not equate me to those crazed traditionalists who have just barely moved out of branding ‘inferior’ family members.”
“Yeah…Neji told me about that. But that was during when he was being a jerk to Hinata, so I beat him up and told him to change his world if he wasn’t happy with it.”
“Pfft, you would use violence to make your point.”
“Hey! I’m not a bully.”
“Right, just a moronic lout who can only use his fists to solve his problems.”
“No fair, I gave Neji a pretty good talking to, I mean, not as good as the one to Gaara, but Gaara was more screwed up. Boy…there’s one kid you could see becoming a psychopath in another world. He’s a good guy though, he just needed someone to give him a chance…and a guideline to socially acceptable behaviour. Yup.”
“God, don’t tell me you were the model of socially acceptable behaviour for that poor kid? He’s probably out there in the world victimizing strangers with incessant talking, no sense of personal space and terrible wardrobe choices.”
“Heeeey, heeeey, I think you’re getting drunk! That’s the most you’ve ever said to me in one go! Haha, you ever have the Asian flush going on a bit there.”
“Shut up! …I’m still not like them though. I’m Uchiha.”
“And I’m Uzumaki, a name doesn’t make a person.”
“But your heritage does.”
“This is beginning to veer into the direction of a nature versus nurture argument. It’s both you know.”
“People are affected by the environment they live in.”
“But you said that your family - ah - passed away when you were eight.”
“Taken away. Time doesn’t change my sense of familial duty; I must honour my family.”
“Why this way? Why chain yourself to a company?”
“I’m proud of my job.”
“Are you happy?”
“...that’s ridiculous. Happiness is transient.”
"Yeah well, you're a poophead so there!"
"Idiot, 'you're a poophead' is not a valid argument."
"It is in Canada!"
"…you know what, I need another drink."
"Ha! That’s the best argument I’ve heard so far.”
“Why am I even talking to you? You’re just passing by.”
“Why not? What do you lose from talking to me?”
“Dignity? Pride? No, dignity seems to be the obvious contender here.”
“Oooh, ouch, your rapier wit, it strikes to the very core of me.”
“Wonderful, the blond moron has managed to grasp the concept of sarcasm.”
“I’m here for another week you know.”
“What?”
“Not really just passing by, I visit Japan every other year. So really, I’m halfway a citizen.”
“Not unless you live here. You’re a foreigner.”
“I look it, but this place feels like home. It’s my first home, I was born here.”
“Hn.”
---
Sasuke decided that he needed to cut back on the alcohol. There was now an attractive blond man sleeping on his couch and apparently he had invited the other man to do so. Apparently the invitation was for the rest of the week that Naruto was in Tokyo.
Maybe he needed more alcohol.
---
“I did see you on that train.”
“Wah?”
“The train going into Tokyo from the Narita Airport. You asked me if you had seen me somewhere before that first time.”
“How -“
“I didn’t admit it because I didn’t want you to have any reason to talk to you, stupid to think that would have stopped you. I didn’t want to know you because I knew that if I knew you, for the rest of my life nothing will be the same again. You’re…you’re like a case of persistent herpes! It springs on you unexpectedly and then you’ll always be carrying the virus.”
“….I’m a case of herpes? I, well, I don’t know what to say Sasuke. That’s just about the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. I mean, wow, what a way to tell someone that they’re unforgettable?”
“You’re a retard.”
“…herpes, I’m herpes remember. Wow that would be a terrifying superpower.”
“Superpower? That’s such a ridiculous superpower, any sexually promiscuous individual stands a chance of having the power of herpes then. Basically, the entirety of the North American population over sixteen.”
“Pssh! That’s not how Herpes Power would work and anyways, don’t even pretend Japanese youth aren’t a bunch of horn-dogs. You guys brought the world tentacle porn and even honed the panty fetish into an art form.”
“This is the most asinine conversation I’ve ever had.”
“You’re smiling.”
“You’re a moron.”
“If I was a moronic herpes virus, natural selection would have wiped me out long ago. Therefore your logic is flawed.”
“You’re drunk.”
“You laughed.”
“Yeah, yeah I did.”
---
Being around Naruto was inevitable. Sasuke found himself talking about everything he never talked about and Naruto made it cathartic to do so. All the private thoughts he’s ever had seemed to burst out of him and the blond man listened with a smile that Sasuke drank in. It was tranquility in the midst of a storm.
---
“Don’t you think your family would have been happier if you did what you wanted? Instead of pursuing your happiness you’re indulging in this fucked up mockery of familial obligation that you’re using as an excuse - an excuse! - to torture yourself!”
“You’re not even Japanese! You wouldn’t understand how important family is to me!”
“I was born in Japan! I’m even goddamn fluent in the language! And for that matter, why is family feeling somehow restricted to the Japanese?”
“But you left. You never lived in Japan, you don’t know what it means to be Japanese. Do you think anyone ever looks at you in your precious Canada and thinks ‘oh there’s a strapping young Japanese man’ or that anyone in Japan looks at you and doesn’t think ‘foreigner’? You’re fucking deluded Naruto!”
“Is that what your problem is Sasuke? Racism? You can’t get over my blond hair?”
“No! Damnit. You’re so blind. It’s not about your race; it was never about race.”
“Then what is it Sasuke? Stop being such a woman and equivocating, just spit it out!”
“It’s about geography! It’s about you leaving and me staying! It’s about how everything will have amounted to nothing! It’s about how all this has been a waste of time.”
“Oh.”
“…”
“It isn’t to me. A waste of time; getting to know you hasn’t been a waste of time to me. So fuck you Sasuke, fuck you and your fucking cowardice.”
“So you get to demean my goals, but be just as stubborn about your own? You’re a hypocrite. Why is it okay for you to leave and pursue your dreams, but my dreams means less than yours?
“Because you’re not happy! You -“
“You don’t get to judge my happiness, Naruto. We just met about a week ago; you don’t know shit about me.”
“I can’t believe you call me a moron all the time when you’re the stupid one. Knowing someone isn’t about time, it’s about connection. Don’t even pretend like you regularly drink with people you’ve only spoke to once and then invite them to crash at your place in the name of saving them some money.”
“Don’t be naïve. Do you really think we can be something after you leave? I can’t leave, I have a job here, I have to finish rebuilding my family’s company. You have a life elsewhere. Relationships don’t spring from nothing.”
“This week hasn’t been nothing. You know it. How can it be nothing and for us to still be having this fight?”
“I’m not leaving Naruto and you’re not staying. That’s the gist of it.”
“…but that doesn’t have to be the end of it.”
---
“When I leave I’m not going to say goodbye to you, we don’t need a goodbye. Geography is a fucker, but we’re both pretty stubborn. Let’s keep saying hello.”
Title: Gravity in red
Rating: PG - 13
Summary: On the strength of bonds and the absolute value love. Sasuke is bound and Naruto leaves.
Warnings: Some potty mouth, bizarre turns of conversations, sentimentality and sparse backgrounds because I’m lazy.
A/N: When I read my exchangee’s prompt I just kept thinking up storylines and the request was for art. So I decided to fulfil the request with a combo move. Hopefully I fulfilled your requirements! ;)
Mod note: Reminder for the author/artist of this submission, please do not reply to comments signed in, if you want to reply anon commenting is enabled.
---
---
“Is it alright if I sit here?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks. Hey, have I seen you somewhere before?”
“Excuse me?”
“Ah, maybe not. I’m Uzumaki Naruto!”
“Uchiha Sasuke, it’s a pleasure making your acquaintance, Uzumaki-san.”
“Haha, it always startles me when people refer to me as ‘san’ here.”
“Ah.”
“I mean, if it’s not obvious from my looks, I’m not native to Japan though I lived here with my parents for a while when I was young. We live in Canada now though, do you live in Tokyo?”
“Yes.”
“You must work in the city then, I mean, with your suitcase and suit. It looks like you’re on your way to work. Geez though, the Japanese sure are industrious, I’m only up this early so I can get a clean room at whichever hostel I stumble onto. My friend Kiba recommends the Asaukusa and the Taito districts for good places to crash. He’s sorta really loud and annoying, but he’s trustworthy. Hey, do you have any recommendations? I mean, since you live here and all.”
“I am not familiar with hostels.”
“You’ve never been travelling before?”
“I am the president of my - my family’s company. I have never indulged in leisure travel.”
“You’re missing out on life! It’s such a thrill to go out into the world, I mean, you meet so many interesting people! Kiba, I mentioned him earlier, is someone I met while on the road. And it’s not just the people, it’s the appreciation of the world we live in. It’s so vast, so colourful. When you watch the news, you see so much of the pain that exists, but when you’re travelling you’re seeing, sometimes even participating, in other people’s joys and - well, I guess I’m a bit addicted. Haven’t you ever wanted to? Even the slightest?”
“ I - no, I’ve been busy.”
“You can’t have been busy all your life! I’m in the middle of grad school, but I still find time for travel.”
“It’s too complicated to explain right now.”
“It’s not my stop yet.”
---
Sasuke stepped off the train wondering how he ended up telling a foreigner so much about his life in so short a time span. Perhaps he could wait on the car purchase for a while longer. Tokyo traffic was terrible anyways.
---
“Sasuke! I mean, Sasuke-san!”
“You again.”
“Hey, hey, don’t give me that look. I’m not stalking you I swear. I just came in here for a drink.”
“I’m sure. I thought you were in Tokyo to visit a godfather. Are you not-a-liar the same way you’re not-a-stalker?”
“Don’t be mean. That old pervert’s back in Atami-city right now. It’s cause of the hot springs there.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah, but I’m came in from Nagasaki actually. Trying to get some culture in my life, cause that’s where that opera, ‘Madame Butterfly’ was set, you know? Or something like that I think. Hinata told me about it cause she knows about stuff like that, Sakura just told me not to eat too much or she’ll beat me for being stupid. I think that’s pretty unfair! I mean, delayed positive punishment really isn’t great reinforcement. I always thought that operant conditioning was totally cool cause then you can train all sorts of animals to do stuff; I thought about training an army of frogs cause lots of people are freaked out by frogs. Hey, do you know how operant conditioning works cause I can totally -“
“Yes. I’m not some idiot who talks too much and doesn’t pay attention after all.”
“Oh good cause - Hey! That’s mean. You’re a bit of a bastard huh? That’s okay though, I know a lot of bastards who aren’t really total jerks. Like Neji, he’s Hinata’s cousin, but he was so mean to her when they were kids.”
“Hyuuga?”
“Bless you.”
“No you idiot. Are you talking about Hyuuga Neji-san and Hyuuga Hinata-san?”
“Yeah! Do you know them They’re really cool though Hinata’s dad is super strict, I don’t think he entirely likes me.”
“How did a hobo drifter like you meet that bunch of elitist traditionalists?”
“Jeez, Sasuke. We’ve only known each other for a little while and no offense, but isn’t you calling someone else an ‘elistist traditionalist’ a bit pot, kettle, black?”
“What the hell are you talking about? What do pots and kettles have to do with anything?”
“It’s a North American idiom that says “pot calling the kettle black” when they’re both black.”
“So you’re calling me a hypocrite?”
“Hey, hey, don’t take it so personally. I’m mostly just teasing!”
“Who the hell do you think you are to judge me?”
“Am I wrong?”
“Upholding my familial duty does not equate me to those crazed traditionalists who have just barely moved out of branding ‘inferior’ family members.”
“Yeah…Neji told me about that. But that was during when he was being a jerk to Hinata, so I beat him up and told him to change his world if he wasn’t happy with it.”
“Pfft, you would use violence to make your point.”
“Hey! I’m not a bully.”
“Right, just a moronic lout who can only use his fists to solve his problems.”
“No fair, I gave Neji a pretty good talking to, I mean, not as good as the one to Gaara, but Gaara was more screwed up. Boy…there’s one kid you could see becoming a psychopath in another world. He’s a good guy though, he just needed someone to give him a chance…and a guideline to socially acceptable behaviour. Yup.”
“God, don’t tell me you were the model of socially acceptable behaviour for that poor kid? He’s probably out there in the world victimizing strangers with incessant talking, no sense of personal space and terrible wardrobe choices.”
“Heeeey, heeeey, I think you’re getting drunk! That’s the most you’ve ever said to me in one go! Haha, you ever have the Asian flush going on a bit there.”
“Shut up! …I’m still not like them though. I’m Uchiha.”
“And I’m Uzumaki, a name doesn’t make a person.”
“But your heritage does.”
“This is beginning to veer into the direction of a nature versus nurture argument. It’s both you know.”
“People are affected by the environment they live in.”
“But you said that your family - ah - passed away when you were eight.”
“Taken away. Time doesn’t change my sense of familial duty; I must honour my family.”
“Why this way? Why chain yourself to a company?”
“I’m proud of my job.”
“Are you happy?”
“...that’s ridiculous. Happiness is transient.”
"Yeah well, you're a poophead so there!"
"Idiot, 'you're a poophead' is not a valid argument."
"It is in Canada!"
"…you know what, I need another drink."
"Ha! That’s the best argument I’ve heard so far.”
“Why am I even talking to you? You’re just passing by.”
“Why not? What do you lose from talking to me?”
“Dignity? Pride? No, dignity seems to be the obvious contender here.”
“Oooh, ouch, your rapier wit, it strikes to the very core of me.”
“Wonderful, the blond moron has managed to grasp the concept of sarcasm.”
“I’m here for another week you know.”
“What?”
“Not really just passing by, I visit Japan every other year. So really, I’m halfway a citizen.”
“Not unless you live here. You’re a foreigner.”
“I look it, but this place feels like home. It’s my first home, I was born here.”
“Hn.”
---
Sasuke decided that he needed to cut back on the alcohol. There was now an attractive blond man sleeping on his couch and apparently he had invited the other man to do so. Apparently the invitation was for the rest of the week that Naruto was in Tokyo.
Maybe he needed more alcohol.
---
“I did see you on that train.”
“Wah?”
“The train going into Tokyo from the Narita Airport. You asked me if you had seen me somewhere before that first time.”
“How -“
“I didn’t admit it because I didn’t want you to have any reason to talk to you, stupid to think that would have stopped you. I didn’t want to know you because I knew that if I knew you, for the rest of my life nothing will be the same again. You’re…you’re like a case of persistent herpes! It springs on you unexpectedly and then you’ll always be carrying the virus.”
“….I’m a case of herpes? I, well, I don’t know what to say Sasuke. That’s just about the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. I mean, wow, what a way to tell someone that they’re unforgettable?”
“You’re a retard.”
“…herpes, I’m herpes remember. Wow that would be a terrifying superpower.”
“Superpower? That’s such a ridiculous superpower, any sexually promiscuous individual stands a chance of having the power of herpes then. Basically, the entirety of the North American population over sixteen.”
“Pssh! That’s not how Herpes Power would work and anyways, don’t even pretend Japanese youth aren’t a bunch of horn-dogs. You guys brought the world tentacle porn and even honed the panty fetish into an art form.”
“This is the most asinine conversation I’ve ever had.”
“You’re smiling.”
“You’re a moron.”
“If I was a moronic herpes virus, natural selection would have wiped me out long ago. Therefore your logic is flawed.”
“You’re drunk.”
“You laughed.”
“Yeah, yeah I did.”
---
Being around Naruto was inevitable. Sasuke found himself talking about everything he never talked about and Naruto made it cathartic to do so. All the private thoughts he’s ever had seemed to burst out of him and the blond man listened with a smile that Sasuke drank in. It was tranquility in the midst of a storm.
---
“Don’t you think your family would have been happier if you did what you wanted? Instead of pursuing your happiness you’re indulging in this fucked up mockery of familial obligation that you’re using as an excuse - an excuse! - to torture yourself!”
“You’re not even Japanese! You wouldn’t understand how important family is to me!”
“I was born in Japan! I’m even goddamn fluent in the language! And for that matter, why is family feeling somehow restricted to the Japanese?”
“But you left. You never lived in Japan, you don’t know what it means to be Japanese. Do you think anyone ever looks at you in your precious Canada and thinks ‘oh there’s a strapping young Japanese man’ or that anyone in Japan looks at you and doesn’t think ‘foreigner’? You’re fucking deluded Naruto!”
“Is that what your problem is Sasuke? Racism? You can’t get over my blond hair?”
“No! Damnit. You’re so blind. It’s not about your race; it was never about race.”
“Then what is it Sasuke? Stop being such a woman and equivocating, just spit it out!”
“It’s about geography! It’s about you leaving and me staying! It’s about how everything will have amounted to nothing! It’s about how all this has been a waste of time.”
“Oh.”
“…”
“It isn’t to me. A waste of time; getting to know you hasn’t been a waste of time to me. So fuck you Sasuke, fuck you and your fucking cowardice.”
“So you get to demean my goals, but be just as stubborn about your own? You’re a hypocrite. Why is it okay for you to leave and pursue your dreams, but my dreams means less than yours?
“Because you’re not happy! You -“
“You don’t get to judge my happiness, Naruto. We just met about a week ago; you don’t know shit about me.”
“I can’t believe you call me a moron all the time when you’re the stupid one. Knowing someone isn’t about time, it’s about connection. Don’t even pretend like you regularly drink with people you’ve only spoke to once and then invite them to crash at your place in the name of saving them some money.”
“Don’t be naïve. Do you really think we can be something after you leave? I can’t leave, I have a job here, I have to finish rebuilding my family’s company. You have a life elsewhere. Relationships don’t spring from nothing.”
“This week hasn’t been nothing. You know it. How can it be nothing and for us to still be having this fight?”
“I’m not leaving Naruto and you’re not staying. That’s the gist of it.”
“…but that doesn’t have to be the end of it.”
---
“When I leave I’m not going to say goodbye to you, we don’t need a goodbye. Geography is a fucker, but we’re both pretty stubborn. Let’s keep saying hello.”