"Sasuke, stop! Sasuke!"

He ignored the frantic calls coming from the blond behind him and kept walking. Or at least he tried to. Part of him wanted to turn and see the face of his past. The one part of his past he had not completely let go.

He rested a hand on his kunai holster.

"Sasuke!" The footsteps were getting closer, louder.

He took hold of the handle.

"Sasuke, answer me!" He felt a rough hand grab his shoulder and, tearing the kunai from its holster, spun around and dug its end into Naruto's stomach.

His former teammate fell to his knees with a gasp. Sasuke stared down at him, waiting. "Ow…" the blond finally muttered.

Sasuke sighed and crouched down next to him. "What do you want, Naruto?"

"You know damn well what I want!" he shouted angrily. "Come back! Come back to Konoha!"

"I can't Naruto, not yet."

"Why not?!"

Sasuke stared into Naruto's hateful eyes. "Because I have to kill my brother. I won't be able to truly live until he is dead!" Naruto said nothing.

After several moments of silence he let out a long breath. "I understand. After all, you've committed your life to killing Itachi. But," his eyes bore into Sasuke's, "you'll come back." It was said more a statement than a question.

"Yes," he said, smiling slightly. "When the time comes."

Naruto's eyes lit up with hope.

It was then that something dawned on him. It wasn't that he didn't know, he just hadn't really thought about it. "Sakura… she isn't with you, is she?" he murmured quietly.

"No," he answered, "she's still training with Tsunade." Noticing his former teammate's sullen expression, he added in a careful tone, "She misses you, though. We both do."

Sasuke looked away. He didn't want Naruto to see the pain etched into his face. He stood up and started to walk away.

"Hold on a minute!" Sasuke stopped and Naruto was soon beside him. "You know… you really shouldn't go around hurting people," he started, "you won't make any friends that way."

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

"I suppose," Sasuke mused, breaking the silence. "Goodbye Naruto."

fin