Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters, at all.
Naruto stared at Sasuke through the thick smog of dust that covered the air. His face devoid of any emotion which was unusual; Naruto usually had some emotion splattered on his face whether it be anger, happiness, or sadness. But, his face held none of these emotions that were usually blared to the world, in fact, he looked slightly disappointed.
"I give up." Naruto said clearly, drawing out each syllable. "I quit."
These words, these seemingly innocent words hit Sasuke like a load of bricks and, for once, something broke through his indifferent mask.
Shock. Pure, undiluted shock.
As Sasuke gaped at him, Naruto continued.
"I've been thinking about this for a while now, ever since Hinata died." His voice took on a wistful tone, one full of regret. Naruto had learned to love Hinata, but she had died a few years back while attempting to protect Naruto from one of Sasuke's Chidori. After her death Naruto changed, he seemed more lifeless and the exuberant grin that once seemed to be firmly plastered to his face started to appear less and less, until it was downright rare to see the blond smile.
Naruto took up all the pent up emotion that he had gained from Hinata's death and threw it into getting Sasuke back.
God. It had been what? Ten years, yes that's it, ten years since Sasuke had originally betrayed Konoha.
Over time, the people stopped attempting to bring him back, Naruto was probably the only one left, but now it seemed like Naruto had joined the crowd and given up on him too.
He should be happy about this, now there wasn't going to be anymore time wasted fighting the annoying blond, but instead he felt an unexpected bout of despair.
Sasuke looked back at Naruto; the blond was looking at him calmly, impassively.
Odd.
Sasuke couldn't seem to remember a time that Naruto looked this emotionless.
"Everyone was telling me to give up, telling me that you weren't worth it but I ignored them. But, now that I reflect on her death I can firmly state that it is your entire fault that she died." He said this with a strong conviction; as if now was the last time to frantically spill these words out, the words that Naruto felt that Sasuke needed to hear, the truths that Naruto had to admit to somebody. Anybody.
"I can't live with this guilt, it's your fault she died, and you left on your own!" Naruto's voice was growing slightly hysterical now, and his weariness was starting to show.
"I blamed myself you know? I kept telling myself that if I was only a bit stronger, a bit faster, a bit smarter I could've got you back. And what about the rest of Konoha? It's not just me you're affecting. What about Kakashi and Sakura? Kakashi, he won't let anyone near him anymore, he's practically drowning in guilt all because he taught you that stupid Chidori in the first place. And Sakura? She's crushed. She loved you, she was willing to give you all the love in the world and then some, she was ready to give you anything but not only did you turn her down you ridiculed her for her love for you. Love isn't something you can control bastard!"
Naruto was panting now, His voice steadily growing louder.
"We all blamed ourselves; we all paid the price for your mistake! It was you, Sasuke, only you! You went to Orochimaru; you left us, YOU KILLED HINATA!"
Naruto stopped abruptly, as if he had said too much.
He quickly regained the impassive mask that he had worn earlier, and his harsh panting slowly returned back to normal.
"You don't deserve to be my anything." He spit out viciously. "You are not my brother, my friend, my rival, my comrade or my enemy. You mean nothing to me."
Then, as Naruto was gathering up the last shreds of his dignity and walking away was when Sasuke decided to speak up.
"Dobe."
The old insult came out softly, almost whispered in a beseeching tone, a quiet plea for Naruto to turn around.
But, he didn't.
Sasuke watched as Naruto slowly walked away from him, watched as Naruto walked out of his life without turning back, never looking back.
A/N- I was thinking about writing a short little one shot like this for a while now, I'm relieved to finally get it down on paper.
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