The Sun and the Moon
It was the day of the Sakura Festival in Konoha. A night where, as a child, Sasuke Uchiha had run around with a sparkler held in a small fist while his mother gazed on approvingly while his father and brother appraised the stores that were open late on the warm spring event.
A night that Sasuke always valued as special, happy, endearing. After the Uchiha massacre however, the raven haired boy didn't dare step outside his empty home for the event, fearful of emotions and memories he longed to lock away forever in the dense drawers of his mind.
Of course, however, a certain three people would show up on his doorstep in the mid afternoon, interrupting his daily meditation. And in particular…"Teme! Open your damn door NOW!" Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but he didn't answer the idiotic DOBE'S voice. "Ne, Naruto…perhaps he's busy putting his heart in the freezer. You know how he gets on Tuesdays…"
Kakashi's voice. Another twitch and Sasuke was forcibly keeping himself seated in the dim calmness that was his room, the one place he felt safe in the whole universe, where he was away from the insanity that was…"…Bastard, we know you're in there! If you don't answer I am going to come in there and kick your ass!" …Naruto.
Sasuke growled under his breath but refused to allow his teammates the pleasure of bothering him for some trivial matter that could certainly wait until his blood pressure went down. "Naruto, could you at least TRY to be a little more kind?" Sakura's voice asked in exasperation, and Sasuke was begrudgingly grateful, for once, for her over-protectiveness of him from Naruto.
"How can I be kind to that stuck-up bastard Sakura-chan?" "Sasuke, come on-" "Sasuke, get out here-" "Sasuke-" "Sasuke-" "SASUKE-" "WHAT!" Sasuke nearly screamed while he threw open his front door with a bang; he could practically feel the smoke leaving his ears and nose in explosions. Kakashi's visible eye widened in either fear or amusement (Sasuke assumed the latter) while Sakura squeaked wordlessly and pushed Naruto in front of her, peeking over the blonde's shoulder while said blonde attempted pitifully to match Sasuke's death glare.
"'Bout time," Naruto muttered. Sasuke's eyes widened then narrowed. The idiot had the FUCKING AUDACITY to stand here as if he didn't just bother Sasuke at all. "You had better have a good reason to be here," Sasuke managed to growl without yelling and (hopefully) blowing the intruding trio to the complex gates and shutting the metal doors with the power of wind, anger, and mind.
"Tonight's the…uh…Sakura Festival…" the pink haired kunochi behind Naruto stuttered out. "And Naruto here had the brilliant idea of going to it as a team," Kakashi finished and patted the fox boy's other shoulder, probably smiling but Sasuke couldn't tell because of the damn mask the Jounin wore. The raven glared back up at the white haired man wordlessly, hoping to convey his feelings of murder and violence to the most sensible of the three. "Chop chop," Kakashi said cheerfully.
"We're going shopping to get you and Naruto some appropriate attire. So I suggest you lighten up and take it like a man." Sasuke turned his glower to Naruto. "You fucking idiot," he hissed, but refused to step out of his doorway. Naruto grinned back. "Yeah," he said. "I know. Now let's get going, Kakashi says he'll take us to get ramen afterwards!"
Sasuke caught Kakashi's eye and the jounin shook his head slowly in response to Naruto's statement. "I'm busy. Go away." "Aw Sasuke…come on," Kakashi stated out loud. "I can't go, okay?" Sasuke blurted out suddenly and turned his back on his teammates, preparing to shut the door in their faces.
"Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, I'll talk to him." Naruto's voice muttered while Sasuke stepped inside. "You will talk to no-one," Sasuke replied (albeit a little bit too coldly for what he had intended to convey) and began his descent to closure until Naruto's fist closed on the door under his own. Two sets of footsteps drifted away from Sasuke's ears.
"Teme," Naruto started lowly. "Tell me what's up." "Go away Naruto," Sasuke ground out past clenched teeth while unwanted memories flooded past his closed eyelids. "Sasuke, I want to go out tonight and have fun, but it won't be the same without you. Please talk to me?" Naruto stepped inside and shut the door softly, the smaller boy trying to peer past Sasuke's bangs which were thankfully obscuring most of his face.
Sasuke clenched his eyelids tight and imagined Naruto catching on fire, wishing it was true and yet wanting to tell someone anyway. And it may as well be Naruto, so. . . "This festival…used to be the highlight of my year," Sasuke slowly began. Telling this secret to Naruto tasted like iron on his tongue; spilling the emotions he tried so hard, for so long, to hide was a pain the was near physical as he continued.
"The last time I went to this I was 7 years old. My father and mother left me in my brother's care, and he bought me anything I wanted from any stand, no matter what. Then…" Sasuke cut off while his body language told the rest to the silent boy beside him. "I can't go out tonight Naruto. It hurts too damn much," Sasuke finished dully and stepped forward, further into the empty hallways of his home and praying to whatever powers that existed that Naruto would take the hint to GET THE HELL OUT.
Of course…the blonde was too dense and moved with Sasuke, probably gazing nervously at the blank walls, devoid of any paintings or decorations due to the fact Sasuke had torn away every reminder of his former family life in a fit of childish rage that he had forgot that happened.
The remains of whatever hung in the home were probably laying broken under piles of trash by now anyway, so it was unimportant at this point, where Sasuke unknowingly led the way to his bedroom. "Sasuke…can I tell you something?" Naruto asked hesitantly and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. "Hn." Sasuke's approval to continue.
"…I've never been to this festival. I've been to scared to, yeah? This year though…I promised myself I'd go and…I can't go by myself. The villagers wouldn't like it. I thought maybe it would be nice to, you know, go out as a team, to have fun or whatever you do at festivals…" Naruto trailed off into tense silence as Sasuke pondered what he had said.
"Why are you scared to go?" He finally asked softly and turned so he too was leaning on the wall and facing Naruto, who was taking his turn in avoiding the other's gaze. "It's not really important…but I think you'd like to get out sometime, I mean away from here for something other than training or getting food…If you need to eat anyway…I mean I don't know if you're even human so…"
"Naruto." "Yeah?" Sasuke managed to smirk down at the blonde. "Shut up." Then he hugged him. "Wha-?! Sasuke! What are you doing?" Naruto yelled. Sasuke smirked again. "Comforting myself." 'And you,' he added mentally. "By acting like a living creature?" "Yes dobe. Just go along with it…"
Several tense moments passed and Sasuke wondered if Naruto had turned to stone, until the blonde's arms wrapped tentatively around his waist and his hands went up to grasp his shoulders. Sasuke moved his own arms to grasp Naruto's hips lightly, burying his face in the soft sunshine hair that adorned the boy's head and taking solace that perhaps he wasn't as alone as he thought.
"I'll go get some money, then after the festival I'll take you for ramen." "Eh? Wait, I thought Kakashi-sensei was doing that! Hey! BASTARD!" Sasuke snorted and stepped inside his bedroom, shutting the door before Naruto could slam into him. "You thought wrong, dobe," he called through the wood, then turned to his dresser. 'Perhaps…I can love someone after all,' both of the boys thought. After all, the sun and the moon are meant to exist together, right?