Archive of Our Own

The Kyuubi Festival was always wonderful.

There were flying banners and strings of lanterns dyed all shades of flaming colors; The salty-sweet-spicy aroma of hot street food wafted through the village; People were socializing, shrieking with laughter as they jumped from stall to stall, booth to booth, playing games and seeing sights brought in from foreign lands. 

Sasuke used to love the Kyuubi Festival as a kid. He’d go with his mother and father and Itachi (that asshole). Sometimes a few of their cousins would tag along. Of course, because of Itachi (that bastard), those memories were tainted, the Kyuubi Festival along with it.

So what business did Kakashi-sensei have, forcing him and Sakura to attend? And why the hell didn’t that dobe Naruto have to go? Earlier Kakashi-sensei said that the dumbass had been assigned a mission outside of the village, but if that was the case, why wasn’t the rest of the team going? At the very least, why wasn’t Kakashi-sensei going with him? The whole thing seemed fishy.

Being dragged from one game to the next by that stupid-screechy-pink fangirl of a teammate of his had Sasuke wishing it was the dobe there instead. He liked Naruto a whole lot more than Sakura. Although, that wasn’t saying much.

“Sasuke-kun, look! Over there! A fortune teller’s booth! After this game, let’s go get our futures told! Then let’s go get takoyaki, okay?”

Sasuke sneered and hn ed.

So they finished their game – well, Sakura finished her game, Sasuke hadn’t been playing in the first place – before heading off to the tiny purple tent across the street. On the front of it was a kanji sign reading “FORTUNES,” painted in bold characters.

Unlike all the other stalls, this one had no line.

“It must be destiny!” Sakura beamed with starry eyes.

They entered the tent. It looked a lot larger on the inside. In the back there was an old lady wearing a pair of thick, black shades. She was plopped on a pillow with her legs crossed, behind an empty chabudai table. In front of the table were two more pillows, (“ Destiny… ” - Sakura), but other than that, the tent was completely deserted.

“50 ryo per fortune,” the old hag grunted.

“ Pssh ,” Sasuke scoffed, but they forked over the money anyway. Sakura eagerly took a seat on one of the cushions, and Sasuke begrudgingly followed suit.

The psychic rolled up her yukata’s long, white sleeves. Muttering to herself, she picked up a deck of fancy looking cards. Their backs were detailed with small black n’ bronze designs, but even as the fortune teller began shuffling them, Sasuke couldn’t catch a glimpse of their faces.

“Now, now, now,” the old hag said in a guttural voice, “let’s see what we have here. An Uchiha… Uchiha Sasuke? And Sakura… Haruno-san.”

Sakura’s eyes went round, and an eager smile blossomed on her face. Sasuke was less impressed.

“That’s right, Psychic-san!” Sakura gushed.

“I know it’s right,” the sibyl grumbled. “I wouldn’t’ve said it if it wasn’t.” She sifted through the cards one last time, finally drawing six from the deck and laying them out – three before Sakura, three before Sasuke. “Don’t flip them yet,” the sibyl said. “There’s two of you, so let’s do this one at a time. You first, Haruno – you’re the easy one.”

Sakura gulped, but remained silent. The psychic reached forward and flipped her first card.

It was her.

Painted on the card was a small-scale picture of Sakura herself. However, in the image she was at least 10 years older. She was sitting in a grandiose house, clutching a small, swaddled baby, and… crying.

“This,” the psychic said, tapping the card with a painted nail, “this is the road you’re heading down, Haruno. Listen here, both of you,” and the psychic glanced between the two genin as if she could see (at this point, Sasuke was pretty sure her glasses were for show). “The future is never set in stone. Even the smallest decision can alter its course. One action, be it accidental or intentional, can result in you meeting the love of your life! Or it can leave you alone and miserable… or dead. What I have here in front of you are the cards that show what lies at the end of each broad road.”

The two genin shifted in their seats. The psychic’s words sounded true. They wondered if whatever was painted on the cards was, too.

“See this, Haruno?” The psychic tapped the first flipped card again. “This… is your future. The one you’re destined for if you decide to keep walking down the path you’re on right now. See here, Haruno?” the psychic whispered eerily. “You’re alone. You have the house you always dreamed of; You have the baby you always wanted; You have the name you’ve longed to bear for so long–” indeed, there was a miniscule Uchiha fan painted on Future Sakura’s robes “but you’re miserable. Because no matter what, you’ll never truly have the man you want. The one who – in this very moment – you yearn for. You understand, Haruno?”

Sakura was stunned. Even Sasuke felt a little shaken.

The psychic shifted in her seat and groused, “No speaking yet. Don’t interrupt,” and she flipped the next card.

It was another Sakura. She was standing next to a pretty blonde woman with a large bust and a tiny purple diamond on her forehead. The woman… she was handing Sakura the Hokage’s hat!

Sakura gasped. The old psychic chuckled. “You can become something great, Haruno,” she said. “One of the most powerful kunoichi to ever live. If you chose to sacrifice love, to swear off all men – and women! – forever, for good… you could become a kage. You must promise yourself to never pursue romance ever again, to dedicate every second of your life to learning, training, and becoming the very best… Then, this could be you.”

Sakura swallowed. She looked ready to cry. “So… I’ll only ever become a powerful kunoichi if I never fall in love? Ever? ”

“Oh, no,” the psychic waved her wrinkled hand. “You can be both powerful and in love. But to be the very best in your field, Haruno? That is when you must choose one or the other.”

Sakura’s brows were furrowed, until the psychic flipped the last card. Her eyebrows shot up.

Future Sakura was in the arms of some- some man! He had her trapped in a searing kiss; It was such an intimate kiss, everything Sakura had always dreamed of… only, she’d always dreamed of it with Sasuke . This man was not Sasuke. He had smooth, glossy black hair, and he was wearing a jounin vest over a green jumpsuit. Sakura couldn’t see his face, but she wondered if he was handsome. Although, whether or not he was, she looked extremely happy in the little painting.

The psychic grinned a wide and toothy grin. “Romance, intimacy, companionship… two souls, entwined with one another. This … this could be you, Haruno. It’s everything you’ve always wanted, just not with the one you’ve always wanted. If you follow this path, Haruno… if you follow your heart, trust your gut, take chances… you will find unconditional love, and true happiness. Will you become the powerful kunoichi you’ve always wanted to be? Will you remain weak? That is undetermined, and entirely up to you, should you choose this path.

“But now, looking at all three futures, the final destinations of all three paths, ask yourself, Haruno: What do you value most?” The psychic pushed the first card closer to Sakura. “Your present dream?” She pushed forward the second card. “Power?” She pushed the last card. “Or… true love? The choice is yours, Haruno.”

For a short moment, the three sat in deafening silence. Suddenly, Sasuke noticed that they couldn’t hear the people outside the tent.

Sakura stared at the three cards with glassy eyes, taking each one in. When the psychic finally took them away, shuffling them back into her deck, everyone in the tent knew Sakura’s new dream without her saying anything.

“And now,” the psychic said, “it’s your turn, Uchiha.” She chuckled that gravelly voice of hers, and flipped the first card.

As expected, there was a small, adult Sasuke painted on it. He was standing over a corpse: Itachi. It was off, though, Sasuke thought with great discomfort; There was no look of solemn satisfaction on Future Sasuke’s face. No, instead there was only pure, bloody horror. 

It scared him.

“ This is your dream, Uchiha ,” the psychic whispered. “To kill your brother, to avenge your family. And, just like Haruno, you are perfectly capable of accomplishing it. I won’t ask, “but do you really want to?” because it’s perfectly clear that you do . I have no questions for you, Uchiha; I’m a psychic. But you have to ask yourself , what are you willing to give up to achieve this dream of yours? Because no matter what, you will have to make sacrifices if you truly wish to kill Uchiha Itachi. Friendship, companionship, love, a home…. And once you do achieve this dream, you must consider these things:

“For one, you will not feel any sense of satisfaction. That fury and resentment you harbor? Once quenched, you’ll be empty. But if you extinguish it now – and it’ll be a slow process – if you forsake your pursuit of revenge… that will leave you with something inside: Yourself.

“Another thing. Consider this: No matter how you go about it, you will lose everything you have right now if you go down this path. Sure, you’ll have your Sharingan, and yes , you’ll have power. Lots of it. But you will have no home. You will have no friends. You will have no future. You will have nothing .

“Pursue your revenge, Uchiha. Just prepare to be empty in the aftermath.”

Sasuke sat there, pissed. Fuck this old woman, what the hell did she know?!

The psychic flipped the next card.

Future Sasuke was standing in the Uchiha training grounds. He was with a young child – a child with blazing red eyes, the Sharingan – and the two of them were sparring. A pregnant woman with a pretty face stood nearby, watching. They made for the picture-perfect family. Yet, the three of them had colorless, somber faces.

“Let’s not forget that other dream of yours, Uchiha,” the psychic said. “To revive the Uchiha clan, was it? Let’s say you give up revenge. You stay with your friends, you grow powerful with them. But… you must revive your clan. So you marry a woman. Who? Who knows, who cares; You don’t. You marry her, she gives you children. That’s it.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “‘ That’s it?’ What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means ,” the psychic stressed, “that that is it . You marry. You make babies. That’s. It.”

“…”

“Life is gray down this path, Uchiha. But at least it’s a shade lighter than the first one, eh?”

Sasuke scowled. “So you’re saying that if I ever try to kill my brother, if I ever try to revive my clan, I’ll die miserable?”

“No. Fuck off with that tone, Uchiha. Listen,” the psychic said, “it’s all about what you choose to pursue; If you make killing your brother your obsession, you’ll die alone. If you make reviving your clan your priority, you’ll die unhappy. It’s not that hard to understand. But –”

The psychic flipped the last card.

“–it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Sasuke’s eyes popped out of his head and Sakura’s jaw dropped.

The next card wasn’t hard to interpret. It was him and Naruto. Kissing . And not an ‘accidental kiss.’ No, Future Sasuke was clutching onto Future Naruto like a lifeline, tipping him back in a passionate sailor’s kiss. Sasuke was dressed in ANBU attire, and Naruto was wearing a billowing white cloak with flames embroidered on the hems. The Hokage’s hat lay forgotten on the ground, probably having been knocked off his head by Sasuke. 

“ Woah ,” Sakura breathed, jade eyes wide with shock and arousal.

The psychic grinned. “‘Woah’ indeed. You don’t have to die unhappy and alone, Uchiha.”

“B-but– this isn’t– n-no , that’s not–” Sasuke sputtered, but his tongue couldn’t form sentences.

The psychic cackled with glee. “You wanna know how you can live a full and blissful life? You wanna know how you can die happy? This is how, Uchiha! True love! With who? Who’s the person that could mean everything to you? Who could make you the happiest man alive? You don’t have to look far, Uchiha!”

Sasuke was still in a state of shock. He was at war with himself. Should he feel indignant, angry, turned on, intrigued? Wait–

“I’ll tell you what I told Haruno,” the psychic said. “There are three roads: Number one’s a deadend; You’ll spend years hurting people, hurting yourself , losing everything on your own accord before finally collapsing in on yourself like a dying star. Number two: You could lead a long life, or you couldn’t; That’s up to you. Either way, it’ll be a bitter one rife with dissatisfaction. And finally, number three: True love equates to true happiness, Uchiha. Follow this path… and you’ll have no regrets. And I’m not saying that to convince you; I’m saying that because it’s true .”

Sasuke was staring daggers into the card of him kissing Naruto , before it and the other two cards were swept out from under his nose.

“Whelp!” the psychic cried. “That’s all, kids! I got my 100 ryo, and you got your fortunes. Now get out of my tent.”

Sakura stopped asking Sasuke out. 

She stopped liking him altogether, it seemed. That was weird , Naruto thought. She was treating him like a normal human being – Naruto, too! – and it was just… weird . If Sakura-chan wasn’t hitting on Sasuke, and she wasn’t hitting Naruto, then who was she? Just a nice, smart, cool teammate and friend?

Weird .

And Sasuke– he was weird too.

At first he kept sending Naruto strange looks. That was fine because Naruto was used to strange looks. At least the teme wasn’t glaring at him with hatred, right? 

Then Sasuke went back to his old self… sort of.

There was something different. Like the intentions behind the teme’s actions had changed. For instance, before when he egged Naruto on, it felt like teasing between rivals (maybe even brothers). But now it felt like Sasuke teased him because he reveled in Naruto’s reaction! And not just that simple satisfaction one normally gets from teasing. No, it was like Sasuke enjoyed something about Naruto getting angry. Naruto couldn’t pin it, but there was something there, he swore!

And the bastard wanted to spar more. Fair enough, right? Typical Sasuke, always trying to train or whatever. But this was different! He only ever wanted to spar with Naruto, for one – okay, so he always did before, but this was different! – and he always wanted to practice taijutsu! Why taijutsu, of all things?! It was like Sasuke enjoyed the two of them sweaty and touching and sprawled on the ground! It was weird!

And the jerk was constantly staring at him! Naruto felt like those stupid eyes were glued to his back, gazing, watching, whatever! When he trained, when he walked, when he changed– the list goes on. Naruto knew Sasuke didn’t have the Byakugan, but it felt like he could see through his clothes… right into his soul!

To sum it up, Naruto was going insane.

Kakashi-sensei seemed pretty clueless as well. At least, he didn’t appear to know what might have caused the sudden change in the two genin. It looked like he understood why they were acting the way they were, though.

Stupid Kakashi-sensei. Useless.

Naruto was fine with Sakura’s new nature, but he was just about a hop, skip, and a jump away from throttling Sasuke-teme.

Around the same time Sakura started dating Rock Lee, Sasuke began making comments about Naruto. He’d always done that before, but never about- about–

“Careful, dobe; You’ll hurt your pretty face.”

Or–

“I wonder if your stamina on the field matches your stamina in bed.”

Or even worse–

“Are you a natural blond, usuratonkachi? Let’s make a bet: Lose today’s spar and you have to prove it.”

“ Dammit, teme!”

“Go out with me.”

“ What?! ”

“Let’s go on a date, dobe.”

“Wh– no! ”

“Yes.”

“No, bastard!”

“Are you scared?”

“Fuck you, jerk! I am not! ”

“I think you are; You’re scared of me, that’s why you won’t say yes to a date.”

“Shut up, I’m not scared! I’ll fucking prove it!”

“Ichiraku’s. Seven o’clock. Tonight.”

“Fine!”

Then Sasuke tried pushing his luck and dipping in for a kiss. Naruto gave him his fist instead of his lips, but they still went out for Ichiraku’s that night. Alone. Just the two of them.

They ended up doing that almost every night for the next two years, until they somehow ended up making dinner for each other in their homes, sleeping in each other’s houses, sleeping with each other, before eventually (somehow) living with one another and getting married.

And the whole time, Sasuke was always looking at Naruto with gooey eyes and a stupid, teasing smirk, and together they somehow left Naruto feeling all hot inside.

“You’re my final destination, you know.”

“ …What? ”