A/N: Argh, sorry it's always so dang long before I update! I think I'll just stop saying "I'll update soon, I promise!" Because I apparently don't... so... I think I'll stop doing that. But anywho, I'm back with some new oneshots that I hope you'll enjoy! They're a continuation of the quote-inspired fics. I've got lots of them that brought insta-inspiration, so, here's hoping they get around to being written! Oh, and yes - SasuNaru.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto. :Sighs:

Quote: "I loved him like no other man: I did not love his laugh. I did not love his smile. I did not need his touch. But, the one thing I needed from him was for him to always be there."

Sourse Unknown

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I didn't love his laugh. That's something you always hear, right? That everyone loves their partner's laugh? I don't. I can't stand Naruto's laugh, actually. It's always so loud and obnoxious, and it has this horrible rough quality to it that makes me want to grimace. Or, even better, smack him on the head. He really needs to learn to fix that laugh of his.

I wasn't crazy about his smile, either. Kami-sama but that man needed to learn to tone it down! Less is more, and all that. But Naruto just kept trying to split his face in two, and blinding everyone who looked at his teeth. (What kind of person has teeth that naturally white anyway!?) Could he even see with his eyes all scrunched up like that? The least he could do is leave his eyes open. Those, at least, are beyond words. Have you ever seen them up close? They're, for lack of a better word, beautiful. But he just has to ruin the effect by smiling so damn wide.

I really can't stand how he's always so touchy-feely, either. Just because I admitted I may not hate him completely, he thinks he has permission to go around hugging me whenever he sees me! He'll, god forbid, glomp me. Me! Of all people! But I have to suffer the indignity it does, because last time I got mad at him for hugging me Sakura started bashing me over the head. That girl needs to learn some control, she does. None whatsoever; it can't be good for her. Or us. No, definitely not us.

But... I guess what drew me to him (definitely not literally) is that he's always there for me. Always, you know? I mean, he's there for anyone else, too. Made me kind of mad for a while; as I remember, I killed a few trees to work off that frustration. But then I learned that... it's me he'll give things up for. He'll do it for others, too, but not like with me. He'll give up hanging out with his friends, just so he can be with me a few extra minutes a day. He'll give up eating at Ichiraku, because I asked to eat at my favorite restaurant. He's given up so much, just so he could be with me... and he's sworn to me that he'd give up anything I asked of him, if only I wouldn't give him up. If only I didn't ask him to give me up.

We were at a mission, then, when it happened. We'd gotten captured, much to my chagrin. We'd been tortured, pumped for information. But neither of us would give in. It made me proud, to see him so beaten down but not folding. I knew it hurt him to see humans doing that to anyone. But he hung in there, day after day, taking care of my wounds while his healed so quickly. Finally they came up with the oh-so-brilliant angle of us being in a relationship, since Naruto was so loving to me. But when they made a point of jeering, of trying to pull him out of his "perverse state of mind"... he just smiled sadly.

I remember being weak. I remember only barely having the energy to hate them for making me weak, for making Naruto weak. But in the next moment, as our eyes locked from across the room -- his, so sad and pained at seeing me in my pained state, and mine, so in pain I couldn't think straight -- I remember this feeling of peace coming over me. Because the man had asked why Naruto thought being with me was so good. Because the man had asked why he was willing to be with me. Because the man asked how much Naruto was willing to give, just to see me free and happy.

I remember crying. I remember sobbing, with what water I had left in my body to spend. I remember having such trouble breathing, as my body arched, trying not to scream, but long past caring. I remember Naruto telling me afterwards how terrified he was, because from the way I was bending he thought I might break some bones. I remember the pain, and how everything eventually turned a few shades darker; a few shades...redder.

But I never gave up. Because Naruto had sworn himself to me. To me. In the midst of torture, he had looked me straight in the eye and said clearly but softly, "I would give up anything and everything, to see him happy. I love him. I do. He's my... other half, the part of me that was missing. I'd give up everything but him, as long as he never gave up me. For eternity, I'd keep giving, just as long as he kept me. And he has. He has. And no matter what anyone does, it won't change."

Being broken out was something a little difficult, but we were too exhausted to do much of it anyway. We'd got caught by surprise, or they'd never have got us at all. I was told that I was already unconscious; that they didn't think I would make it. They said he gave what was left of his own chakra, and what he could safely give of the Fox's. So I could live. They said he insisted our beds be pushed together, because if they wouldn't let him sit up with me then he'd damn well lay down at least, but he wasn't going to leave me.

I remember waking up, and looking at him, not really seeing him. I remember him crying, kissing my face, frantically asking why I wasn't responding. I remember reaching for him when they tried to make him leave, when they tried to drag him out.

I remember closing my eyes and breathing deeply, trying to get the smell of blood out. And I remember that he never left me. Never.

I may not love his laugh. I may not like his smile. I may not want his touch.

But he has never left me.

And that's all I wanted.