It gleams in the candle light, the silver reflecting the orange glow in muted tones. Silver looks like it should be cold, Naruto muses, but this silver is not. Warmed by the skin it rests against, it slides against his fingertips smoothly, seamlessly, and he is fascinated.
"It was your mother's?"
"Yes."
"And you just now started wearing it. Why?"
"I couldn't…not until…that man was dead."
The kyuubi presses his body against Sasuke's more closely, soaking in the heat of his body like a sponge. His lips drift along the smooth white neck, trailing gentle kisses around the collarbone and over the curse-seal, now long dormant. He strokes the midnight hair and glances up to the ebony eyes that are half-lidded and drowsy with contentment.
"But if it was hers, shouldn't you have worn it always?"
Naruto thinks to himself that if he had anything that had belonged to either of his parents, he would never have let that item out of his sight, no matter what. Sasuke had only begun wearing the odd silver necklace a week before, despite the fact that he had returned to Konoha two years ago, his mission of vengeance finally complete.
"It was from a happy time…and I couldn't wear it…"
Sasuke trails off, as though he cannot find words to express himself.
"Did killing that man make you happy, Sasuke?"
"No…it didn't. I thought it would. The entire time I hunted him, I anticipated killing him…but in the end, I was hollow."
Naruto's fingers ghost along Sasuke's bare stomach, noticing the barely-suppressed flinch from the light touch. The last of the Uchiha, ANBU captain and toughest ninja in Konoha…is ticklish.
"But you aren't now. Hollow, I mean."
It wasn't a question.
"No, not now."