Promise

Rating: K+

Genre: Angst

Summary: His eyes showed pain, sadness, grief. His eyes prickled as tears threatened to burst forward. But he didn't cry. He had promised himself a long time ago he wouldn't cry. And Uzumaki Naruto never breaks his promise.

Pairing(s): None

WARNINGS: meh… angsty as usual…

DISCLAIMER: I. Don't. Own. Simple, no?

"I'm sorry Sakura, I couldn't get him back… but next time-"

SLAP! "Shut up, you demon! You lied to me and hurt Sasuke-kun! Go away and don't ever let me see you again!"

A lone figure sat atop the Hokage Mountain, very still and deathly silent atop the Yondaime's head. A closer inspection revealed golden locks similar to the Yondaime's, distinctive whisker-like marks on his cheeks, tan, flawless skin, and deep cerulean eyes. Eyes that showed pain, grief, sadness, rage, and betrayal. But one emotion overshadowed them all.

Loneliness.

The list of people who could bear to be in his presence was painfully short. Ayame; Teuchi; Tsunade; Jiraiya; Shizune; Iruka. The Rookie Nine - well, seven, since Sasuke and himself didn't count - couldn't even look him in the eyes now that they'd found out he housed the nine-tailed kitsune. He could not remember a day that someone hadn't hurt him in some way or another. People would beat him up, and he would let them. Even when he was down, they'd kick him twice more in the ribs just to spite him. What did he do wrong? Nothing. He'd once thought that if he let people beat him up they wouldn't hate him as much. Boy was he wrong. Now, he had no one to lean on. Absolutely no one.

"Demon", "dead-last", "idiot", they'd say. No one bothered to look behind the mask of happiness, to really see him, to see the lonely boy underneath it all. He was thrust into a cruel and harsh world. All he wanted was for someone to pay attention to him and love him.

"For a village who values their eyes and their stupid teamwork so much, they can be so blind," he snorted. "Look underneath the underneath. Yeah right."

Despite having taken the lives of many enemy shinobi, his intentions were pure. He did what he had to do to protect his previous people. However, his eyes showed lost innocence and childish naïveté, crushed by the brutal rejection of one of his precious people, and the betrayal of his closest friend that he once considered his brother. He felt like giving up, hiding his heart so that no one could ever hurt him again. But he couldn't. No matter how many times he got hurt, no matter how much his heart gets torn to shreds and stepped on, he kept hoping, wishing that one day, someone will be there for him.

He felt his eyes prickle as tears threatened to burst forward, but he didn't cry. He had promised himself a long time ago he wouldn't cry.

And Uzumaki Naruto never breaks his promise.

A/N: This one actually made more sense than the first one! LOL

Fairly straightfoward: Naruto tries to get Sasuke back and fails, Sakura blames him, Naruto drowns in his thoughts. Sometimes, I wonder why Naruto likes that pink-haired banshee... not that I hate Sakura, it's just that her fixation with Sasuke really turns me off... Anyways...

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