#yamatonaruto

[mochimattie]

Pssssst

(I love them)

[wandering-shadows-lost]

Please, I need this, so, so bad. YamatoNaruto “I was just kind of hoping that you’d, y’know…. fall in love with me.” Thanks.

AN: Okay, I’ve never written anything with Yamato before so this is a bit of an experiment! Hopefully you like it :)  There is an age difference between the characters so I’m going to put it under a read more.  The story takes place about 7-8ish years after the end of the Fourth Shinobi War and I am completely ignoring Boruto because I can.  Also Kakashi is still Hokage for now.

Yamato is running out of room.  He has a decent sized apartment for one person.  There is not a lot of extra room, but he has a bedroom, bathroom, and a small kitchen.  He even has space for a small table and a comfortable chair.  A chair which rarely gets used, but he has been assured that he is supposed to have one.  (He is still not sure whether or not Senpai was messing with him, but the few people who have been in his apartment haven’t said otherwise so he thinks it is safe.)  

At least, it used to be enough room for a single shinobi bachelor.  Now, looking around, he is overwhelmed by the amount of green.  There are plants covering every flat surface and a few of the mostly flat surfaces.  Even the chair that never gets used has a plant sitting happily on it. If Yamato did not have Mokuton, many of the plants would not be alive because there is not nearly enough sunlight in his apartment to support all of them.  The situation is really getting out of hand.  But he can’t bring himself to get rid of any of them.  After all, they are gifts from his precious student and he knows that you are not supposed to throw away gifts.  (And if his chest feels warm and full every time he looks at them, especially after a hard mission or a sleepless night, it must just be the added oxygen the plants release in his room. Nothing else.)

However, that still leaves him with a problem.  He does not have room for anymore plants.  And his student is due back from a mission today.  Which means there will be another one for his collection.  Or is it a garden?  Garden sounds better, but gardens aren’t supposed to be inside, right?

His musing is cut short by a sharp rapping on his front door.  Yamato doesn’t bother to move, recognizing the chakra signature.  Sakura pushes open the door without waiting for an invitation.

“Sakura,” Yamato turns to greet her after the silence stretches for a moment.  Sakura is staring around his apartment in open bewilderment. “Ah, yes.  You haven’t been in my apartment in some time.”

“It’s very…green,” Sakura chokes out after a moment.  Yamato is fairly sure she is trying not to laugh.  “I haven’t seen you use Mokuton for things like this before.”

“Oh.  They were a gift.” 

“A gift.  All of them.”  Sakura stares at him incredulously.

“Yes,” Yamato tilts his head and smiles.  It is slightly disappointing when Sakura doesn’t react.  She has known him too long to find his smile creepy.  Besides, there is a growing suspicion in her eyes as she looks closer at all of the plants.  None of them are the same species.  And there are only a few that are native to Fire Country.  Her eyes finally settle on a small cactus that sits in small windowsill above the kitchen sink.  It is the first one that Yamato received.

“Did Naruto give you all of these?”

“Yes.”

“From all over the Elemental Nations.”

“Yes.”

Sakura is back to staring at him again.  Yamato does not quite see what the issue is.  Sakura raises her eyebrow at him.  When Yamato keeps staring at her, deadpan, she clearly gives up.  He hears her mutter something about “idiots” and “Ino won’t believe” but he doesn’t manage to catch all of it.  Before he can ask, because he is clearly missing something again, Sakura is pushing him out of the door.

“Come on.  Naruto is due back sometime today, if he doesn’t get sidetracked like usual,” she grumbles the last bit under her breath. “And I need you to grow another desk for Kakashi-senpai before then.”

“Sakura,” Yamato can feel the smile that stretches across his face.  It is not a nice one.  Several shades too wide, with too many teeth, and eyes opened too far.  “What happened to the last one?  And why is it so urgent that it needs to be replaced before Naruto comes home?”

Sakura speeds up, refusing to look at him.  So, it was her fault then. As for why she doesn’t want Naruto to know, well, he can guess.

Luckily, with the amount of practice he has gotten over the last few years, Yamato is very good at growing new desks to Kakashi-senpai’s exact specifications.  And, with Sakura’s not inconsiderable strength, it takes less than an hour for them to have the replacement ready in the Hokage’s office….where Kakashi-senpai currently isn’t.

Yamato carefully takes several steps away from Sakura when he hears the creaking of leather from her clenched fists.  Her chakra rises fury, full of killing intent.

“Shannaro!” She bellows before throwing herself headlong out of the window to chase down their wayward Hokage.  Yamato supposes that he really should help her track him down, but it is his day off…

“Kakashi-sensei! I’m back! The mission was super easy! Give me something better next time!”

The familiar cheerful voice fills the office like sunlight.  Yamato unconsciously finds himself relaxing into it.  He turns with just the slightest hint of a smile playing on his face.

“Naruto.”

Naruto beams when he sees Yamato and Yamato is helpless but to smile back because Naruto always looks at him like he’s the only person who matters.

“Yamato! You’re here! I mean, this is Konoha, of  course you’re here.  But, you’re here in the Hokage’s office and I didn’t have to go find you, it’s been so long, and where’s Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto says all of this in one breath.  He cranes his neck dramatically to look around Yamato to check that Kakashi isn’t somehow hiding behind him, before giving up.

“Oh well, if he wanted me to give him my report he should have been here!” Naruto reaches out and grabs Yamato by the arm.  “Let’s go celebrate my return with ramen!”

Yamato should protest, should insist that Naruto wait until Kakashi-senpai returns so he can report in to the Hokage, but the warmth of Naruto’s hand on his arm distracts him.  He is happy to see his student again and surely senpai couldn’t fault him for taking their student out for lunch? Even if he does protest, Yamato can’t find it in himself to care.  

It is after Yamato has finished his bowl of ramen and Naruto has polished off his fifth bowl, that the plant problem makes itself known again.  Naruto reaches into a pocket and pulls out a sealing scroll.

“I got you something!” He holds out the scroll towards Yamato.  Yamato is conflicted.  It is going to be another plant.  A plant he has no room for.  But he can’t turn down a gift from Naruto, especially when the very thought churns his stomach uncomfortably. (He’s not sure why these gifts affect him so strongly, but he’s never had a student before so that’s what it must be.  Not that Naruto’s really been his student for a long, long time, but what else could it be?)

Yamato carefully reaches out and pokes the seal with a chakra coated finger.  Out pops a small cactus like plant.  Yamato’s heart skips a beat and he idly wonders if he should get Sakura to give him a check up, but most of his focus is on the tiny plant in front of him.  It’s almost exactly like the first one Naruto ever have him.  He must have been staring at it longer than he though because when he tunes back in to the present, he can hear Naruto babbling nervously.

“-I know you already have one and I never give you a repeat gift and I’m sorry but it reminds me of you and you probably hate it-”

“Why?” Yamato can hear the crack in his voice.  He can feel the tightness in his chest.  Maybe he is having a heart attack? But that doesn’t matter because Naruto is looking at him and his face is vulnerable.  And Naruto should never be vulnerable, not like this.  And Yamato is so far out of his comfort zone and he is not equipped to handle any of this, but he needs to hear Naruto’s answer.

Naruto tries to smile, but it crumples around the edges too much for it to be real.  He reaches a subtly trembling hand up to rub at the back of his head.

“I was just kind of hoping that you’d, y’know…. fall in love with me.” He attempts to chuckle, but it falls flat. Yamato stares at him and this has to be what a heart attack feels like.  His chest feels too tight, like he can’t breath, and it hurts, but at the same time his chest feels full and warm.  Like he just ate something warm on a cold day, but so much better.  A semi-hysterical voice in the back of his head tells him that this must have been what Sakura noticed.  What he should have noticed.  He is so not equipped to handle this!

Only, Naruto is still in front of him.  Naruto who he knows he cares about.  Naruto who was once his student, but hasn’t been in a long time.  Naruto who can smile through damn near anything up to and including the Apocalypse.  Naruto who is smiling like he’s trying not to cry.  Because Yamato still hasn’t said anything.  Because Yamato is hurting him.  

“It’s okay.  I-you know you don’t have to feel the same way.  That’s fine-I’m fine! You’re still my friend!”  Naruto’s smile becomes firmer, more real as he’s talking and Yamato can see a way out.  A way that they can go back to what they had before and he wouldn’t have to deal with any of these complicated emotions that he shouldn’t be feeling, but he can’t.

“Naruto, I-” Yamato starts because he needs to say something, but now that he’s opened his mouth he doesn’t know what to say. “I didn’t know.”

He can see Naruto pulling himself together, packing his emotions away, and that is not what he wants.

“I don’t know what I feel.  I don’t understand people or emotions well.”  The words are stilted and awkward on his tongue, but he refuses to stop.  He needs Naruto to understand.  “Teachers and students aren’t supposed to be together like that.”

He can see Naruto straighten up, ready to argue so he hurries to finish, “But you are not really my student anymore are you?  You haven’t been since that fight with Kaguya, maybe even before.  And I care about you.”  Somehow, the words are becoming both easier and harder to speak as he continues, “I care about you very much, but I don’t know if I love you in the same way, Naruto.  I don’t know how to tell.”  Yamato has to look away.  He’s not sure he can stand to see what Naruto thinks of him after that.  A hand reaches out and rests on the table next to his.  He stares at it.  He wants to reach out and hold it, but he doesn’t at the same time.  Why did he think having emotions was a good idea again?

“Hey, c’mon.  Look at me.”  

Yamato does.  What else is he going to do?  But Naruto isn’t upset.  He’s smiling and it’s real.  Yamato’s chest loosens like it always does when Naruto looks at him like that (oh, maybe that’s what love feels like?).  

“I love you.  If you never feel the same way, it’s okay.  But, if you want to, we can figure this out together, no pressure, no rush.”

Naruto waits for him.  He has waited for him, Yamato realizes.  Naruto has felt this way for years-probably since giving Yamato the first plant several years after the Fourth Shinobi War ended.  Yamato makes his decision.

“I didn’t know that you knew how to be patient, Naruto,” Yamato summons up his creepiest smile.  Naruto doesn’t disappoint.

“I can too be patient! Of course I can!” Naruto waves his left hand indignantly in the air as he continues to loudly proclaim to the world about how he can be the most patient of ninjas.  His right hand stays on the counter of Ichiraku Ramen with Yamato’s hand resting in it.

[markclarkii]

Quick Yamato drawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #yamato #tenzen #yamatonaruto #jonin #jounin #naruto #narutoshippuden #anime #fanart #art #artists #illustrations #markclarkii #hashirama #woodrelease https://www.instagram.com/p/CQieoubL_hs/?utm_medium=tumblr