Habit.

The only reason that voice might have stopped him; might have made his heart skip.

A habit of responding to that loud, obnoxious, childish voice that yelled out to him to stop. His heart did, for a minute, out of habit.

But his hand didn't.

"Sasuke stop!"

"Sa…su…ke…" Sakura fell to his feet with a whisper. She never should have been a shinobi. She wasn't suited for it; not emotionally, mentally, or physically.

The new member of their fight only fell short in two of those categories.

Naruto stopped in mid sprint and stared in shock at the sight of it. His best friend over the body of their teammate. It didn't make sense. It couldn't be real. He was trapped in an illusion of hell.

"Sasuke… what…?"

Sasuke could acknowledge the blonde now, not out of habit, but out of necessity. He was a threat now; he deserved recognition as such. "Naruto." He greeted evenly.

Naruto shook visibly. He couldn't stop it; he knew hatred didn't help. Revenge was a disease. If Sasuke hadn't shown him that, Pein had. Rage burned through everything that mattered and destroyed it.

But pain compelled him to do something.

Sasuke blinked as the blonde moved, suddenly faster than he cared to believe. Blindly coming at him. Slashing wildly at him.

Stabbing him.

Sasuke didn't move. Even as Naruto could feel the blade slide between his ribs, he didn't move. It was a single, simple kunai, he went through dozens a week; there was nothing special about the attack to make it succeed. It shouldn't have succeeded.

But it did.

Naruto looked up into red eyes. They weren't spinning as they had a moment ago. "Sasuke?"

The Uchiha lost some of the seriousness to him look, what might constitute as a smile of victory for him now. "You killed me."

The world spun to black, then reversed so that Naruto was once again standing on the other side of the clearing that had become their battleground. Genjutsu.

Naruto flushed with relief.

"You killed me." Sasuke repeated, as though he didn't understand.

Naruto looked at him, knowing he couldn't escape genjutsu on his own. It wasn't a talent of his, especially when he was so distracted and in the claws of a certain Uchiha. "I…" He had tried to kill Sasuke. Sasuke had killed Sakura, the woman he'd loved for years. Their friend. It was a justified, logical action.

So why did it lash his chest into knots?

"I did." He admitted, looking at Sasuke to see if he understood what he'd done.

Sasuke looked at him seriously, searching for the reason Naruto didn't continue to come after him. Had he finally shown the dobe that he couldn't be forgiven? Strange… it almost hurt. As though he hadn't done enough to warrant it.

"You loved her." Sasuke recalled suddenly, somewhat distracted. "I'd forgotten. You always loved her." Was it really only a few years ago? Time seemed so warped to him now.

"She was my friend." Naruto excused. Sakura had never loved him back, and Naruto hadn't really wanted her to lately. It was habit that kept him hitting on her, that kept him blushing. Habit to act like he loved a woman he might one day have. "She was your friend too. How could you, Sasuke?"

He sounded so pitifully innocent. 'How?' he asked. How could he kill someone so important to him? Sasuke looked to where the body lay, even in the illusion. "She never mattered to me."

He was lying to himself; Naruto knew. He had to be.

But he wasn't.

"There weren't many people who mattered to me then." Sasuke mused. Naruto continued to watch him. "And now there's only one."

The blonde thought back instantly to the truth he'd discovered of Uchiha Itachi. Probably one of the greatest men and shinobi the world would never know. Sasuke wouldn't want his pity, but it came unannounced as they stared at each other in silence.

"He's still important to me." Sasuke said finally, with a true but rather pathetic attempt at a smile. He was surprised to find out that he still cared. But glad. "After everything, I… I'm glad he survived." Sasuke said finally. He spoke in past tense. "I'm so tired Naruto. I'm sorry.

I'm glad you survived."

Naruto's eyes widened as the illusion around him faded, not leaving him in one world or another until the Uchiha fell into him. They were back to when he'd stabbed his best friend in the chest.

It was real.

And now Sasuke was falling to his knees, blood dripping from his lips, eyes gray.

"No." Naruto protested as though he could change it. He hadn't meant to wound him, he was just angry and hurt. That kunai shouldn't have landed. Sasuke shouldn't have taken it. It couldn't have happened. It couldn't.

He followed the Uchiha to his knees, holding onto the other man's shoulders, holding him up. Not letting him go. "Sasuke… you bastard, come on look at me."

Sasuke was not so weak yet as to not appreciate that. He could see the love in those blue eyes, and for the first time, he allowed himself to revel in it. He smiled and, bracing himself, he raised his arm to the back of Naruto's neck.

The motion was automatic. Right.

Naruto tasted his best friend's blood in his mouth as Sasuke pressed his lips to the blonde's. He stopped breathing, completely aware of the moment. He could hear Sasuke's heart, feel his breath as it matched his own, he knew Sasuke was trembling under him.

It was a long moment before Sasuke's hand fell from around him, and his head dropped limply to his chest.

No. No moment was long enough.

"Sasuke?"

He whimpered. This couldn't be the end. It had to be an illusion… Or it had to be hell.

"Sasuke, please."

He couldn't leave him alone here. He couldn't take everything that mattered to him, his friends, years of his life, strips of his flesh… He couldn't take his love too. He couldn't take it and disappear.

Naruto felt warm liquid on his cheeks, but it didn't register that they were tears. He was beyond tears now.

"You bastard."

How dare he abandon Naruto to face this hell alone? How dare he go and die so easily? How could he have possibly thought that telling Naruto he was sorry could atone for this? For taking everything from him? Especially when Naruto had tried to give him his everything so many times.

"You bastard. You think I would follow you for years just to stop now?" His laugh had an ironic melancholy tone. It sounded strange. Foreign.

He took the knife, that simple black blade, completely ordinary and completely deadly. He withdrew the kunai from his love's chest, and buried it in another. He felt the effect as though he was wrapped in cotton. He knew it was sharp, it simply didn't feel like it.

"I'm sorry too, Sasuke. You must really be sick of me by now." Blood invaded his throat, he couldn't breathe. "But I'm following you, bastard. Forever."

It was a bad habit.