AUTHORESS: Amaya~Ikari

TITLE: Illusion

DATE WRITTEN: 1/22/14

ANIME: Naruto

PAIRING: Yaoi: SasukeXNaruto

STATUS: Oneshot: Completed.

RELATED STORIES: None.

WARNINGS: Slight spoilers. SLIGHT.

~It's not the goodbye that hurts, it's the flashbacks that follow~

Thunder cracked outside of the apartment, shaking the walls with her violent anger. Naruto remembered Iruka once telling him there was an ancient feud between the sky and the earth and that's why there were storms, so the sky could attack earth. As lightning crashed outside, Naruto found the tale easy to believe. He sighed morosely, sitting in front of the window to watch the dismal downpour; the weather mirrored the feelings in his heart. He felt so alone, more so than he had when he was a mere child. Tsunade had told him he was still recovering from the war, and the lives that had been taken in it.

They could rest in peace knowing the world was safe because of them, but it didn't take away the heartbreak that came along with their deaths. Naruto could barely stand to look at Hinata without thinking of Neji and his sacrifice. His chest tightened painfully then, he clasped his hand over his heart to feel it pounding against his ribcage, as if it were a prisoner attempting to escape. He hung his head and closed his eyes; they were once a vibrant and ecstatic blue, but now they seemed darker somehow, as if they searched for something they would never find.

Naruto wished he knew the source of this pain in his chest, but he couldn't come up with an answer as he sat there watching the clouds swirl threateningly in the sky. He sighed wearily; a shiver went through his body when he felt something cold nearby him. He started to turn around; he didn't get the chance to move before two arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him into a tight embrace. Naruto felt adrenaline burst inside of him in a dangerous combination of disbelief and hope; he tilted his head up in order to look into soft onyx eyes. "Sasuke?"

Naruto asked cautiously, when a smile spread across Sasuke's lips Naruto instantly turned himself around and threw his arms around Sasuke's shoulders. "I missed you so much!" Naruto murmured against Sasuke's neck, where he now had his face buried. Sasuke tightened his grip on Naruto, as if he were afraid to let go of him.

"I was only gone a month, usuratonkachi." Sasuke replied softly, resting his cheek on the top of Naruto's head. To Naruto, the time seemed to be much longer than that; perhaps because he'd waited so long to have Sasuke home with him before. He clutched his hands in Sasuke's shirt, his eyes began to burn as if he were going to cry. He tried to force the tears back, but a few still slid down his cheek in warm trails. "Naruto, why are you crying?" Sasuke questioned, pulling back to look down at the other boy.

"Because I missed you!" Naruto exclaimed, as if it was completely obvious. Sasuke smiled softly, suddenly lifting Naruto off of the ground and carrying him to the bed; he lay the blonde down before getting in beside him. He pulled the blanket over them both, Naruto pressed his face against Sasuke's chest while the Uchiha wrapped an arm around Naruto's waist, holding him protectively. "I don't want you to leave again…I love you." Naruto murmured the words he remembered screaming dozens of times that one night. He couldn't see that night clearly for some reason, but he remembered how many times he had screamed those words at Sasuke.

"I know. I know, I love you too." Sasuke whispered, his voice sounded remorseful to Naruto, but the blonde brushed it off as Sasuke only being tired from being gone for so long. "I'm always going to be with you, you don't need to be so sad all of the time." Sasuke murmured, resting his chin on top of Naruto's head. Naruto felt a wary feeling born from hearing that statement, but he didn't allow himself to dwell on it. Instead, he hugged Sasuke tightly and basked in the warm moment where he felt whole for the first time in an unbearably long time.

"Goodnight, Sasuke." He murmured before he drifted into a peaceful sleep, feeling Sasuke tighten his grip for a moment before he did completely lose consciousness.

Naruto was unwilling to open his eyes when the sun began burning his eyelids, he wasn't ready to wake up yet. Absentmindedly he reached his arm out across to the other side of the bed to see if he could convince Sasuke to sleep in late today. His brow furrowed in confusion when his hand came into contact with the cold mattress top. Did he get up early?

Naruto opened his eyes slowly and looked at the undisturbed side of the bed before he sat up and looked around the room. Where could he have gone? He couldn't have gone on another mission, he'd only returned home last-

Realization suddenly struck him like an oncoming train, his heart felt encased in ice as he remembered what had happened.

Sasuke wasn't here. He never would be again. He had been killed in the war, one month ago, leaving Naruto alone.

Sharp pangs of pain began berating Naruto's heart as his eyes landed on Sasuke's old headband, where he kept it laying on the nightstand beside him every day to remind him of the boy. As if he could ever forget. Tears began to leak down his face, slowly turning into vehement sobs as Naruto clutched his aching chest where the hole inside of him was slowly growing. You said you wouldn't die…you lied to me!

Naruto wanted nothing more than for Sasuke to just come home. Come home to him.

But dreams were nothing but an illusion.

AUTHORESS NOTE:

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THIS IS. I DON'T WRITE ANGST. I NEVER HAVE. IS THIS GOOD? DID I DO GOOD? WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT? I HOPE I RUINED SOMEONE'S DAY BECAUSE THAT'S THE POINT OF GOOD ANGST RIGHT?

I read the new Naruto chapter and have been crying ever since so.

There are two ways I found to interpret this, review how you interpreted the story.