Was It A Dream?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Boo.
Warnings: Shounen-ai, Character Death
One-Shot, Inspired by the song "Was It A Dream?" by 30 Seconds to Mars, but not a song fic. Great band, check them out if you haven't already heard them.
Sasuke dodged as a shuriken sped towards him. Spinning around, he pulled out one of his kunai and slashed at the enemy grass ninja. The blade sliced through the shinobi's shoulder, leaving a nasty wound. Sasuke watched as the man stumbled backwards and tripped over a root. He raised his hands and began to form the signs to a fire jutsu, but then stopped himself. It was not necessary to kill the ninja in order for his mission to succeed, and Sasuke had long ago stopped from committing needless murder. When he killed, memories he preferred to forget might be evoked.
Walking towards the ninja, Sasuke could tell that his enemy was unconscious. He crouched down by the man's side and gently tilted his back forward. As he did so, the dark hood of the grass shinobi's shirt fell off his head, revealing vibrant blond hair sticking up in all directions. Sasuke removed the ninja's bag and placed it on his own back. Before he could get up and walk away, he felt a hand grab his ankle. The shinobi's eyelids flickered open, and Sasuke found himself staring down into bright blue orbs. Old emotions swept through him, ones that he thought he had locked away long ago. Thoughts of Naruto entered his mind as he pushed off the grass ninja's hand and ran away.
After ten minutes of running, Sasuke slowed his pace down to a walk. The resemblance between the shinobi he had just faced to a young Naruto dismayed him. As far as the raven could see, the only thing differentiating the grass ninja from Naruto was the lack of whisker marks that had once graced Naruto's cheeks. Sasuke sat down on a grassy patch of land and leaned against a nearby tree. Slowly, memories of the past played through his mind.
There had been a time when he had hated Naruto. When Sasuke was a small child, his parents had spoken about the blond boy. They whispered hateful things if Naruto passed them in the streets, and Sasuke followed their example, wanting to please his parents as all kids do. When Sasuke began attending school, Naruto was in his class at the academy, always causing trouble. Sasuke hated the other boy then too, for he wanted to learn and become a great ninja like his brother, and it was hard with Naruto always distracting their sensei. But Itachi soon killed his entire clan, and suddenly Sasuke was unsure of what he desired. Naruto smiled, as if to say, "now we're alike," yet Sasuke continued to shun the boy, as he didn't think they were alike at all.
Shortly after that, Naruto began to hate Sasuke as well. Based on the way Sasuke treated Naruto, one would think it shouldn't have taken him so long to hate back, but no one had ever treated Naruto any other way. Naruto's hatred for Sasuke came as a result of something else—the fact that everyone liked Sasuke. Adults praised his talent, boys respected him, and girls squealed over his good looks. Their mutual hate peaked on the day after they graduated, and began to fall apart as well.
After sharing an accidental kiss, they were assigned to the same team and began completing missions together. Somewhere along the way to their showdown with Zabuza and Haku, a unique friendship blossomed between them. They were rivals, yet thoughtlessly risked their lives when the other was in danger. Both were happy being the other's only friend.
Their relationship could have continued in this manner, if not for Orochimaru. Sasuke became the recipient of a curse mark, and he never again became the same person he had once been. The mark encouraged his hatred for Itachi and his desire for power and revenge. He eventually decided to leave Konoha, and Naruto tried relentlessly to get him to stay. The two shinobi battled, but Sasuke found his heart did not have the strength to kill Naruto. Instead, he left the other boy alive, went to join Orochimaru, and saw Naruto only once briefly during the next three years.
Eventually, Orochimaru was ready to take over Sasuke's body. As Sasuke spent the final days before it was to happen trying to decide what to do in order to keep himself alive, he was awoken one night with Naruto's hand over his mouth. Without thinking, Sasuke licked the hand, and Naruto hastily removed it. Naruto told him that Kakashi and Sakura were creating a diversion, and that he knew where to find Itachi. Sasuke seized the chance for freedom and revenge. Naruto led him to the Akatsuki hideout, where they were fortunate to find Itachi alone. The blond watched from the sidelines as the two brothers battled, ready to help out in an instant if Sasuke wished. However, Orochimaru's intense training proved useful in the end, and Naruto witnessed the extent of Sasuke's power as Itachi's head was ripped from his body.
After the deed was done, Sasuke stood in a hypnotic state amidst the sea of blood. Naruto ignored it all, ran forward, and embraced Sasuke tightly. Sasuke was forever grateful of the other boy's actions, for if Naruto had done nothing Sasuke may have never come out of his trance. Yet he did awake, and looked down to see the shorter boy crying. The reason behind Naruto's tears Sasuke never knew; he guessed it was a combination of joy and relief, sadness, or something else entirely. Naruto eventually let go, and led the dazed Sasuke back home to Konoha. Upon entrance into the village, Sasuke was promptly arrested for treason, despite Naruto's protests. He was placed in jail, and Tsunade informed him it was unlikely he would ever become fully accepted back into Konoha.
She was wrong. Before his seventeenth birthday, Sasuke was cleared of all charges. This was due largely in part to Naruto's influence on the Hokage, and the fact that Sasuke was, for the most part, still loved by all. Sasuke was puzzled by all of Naruto's actions since their reunion, it seemed like the boy had changed drastically, and Sasuke found himself sad that he had not been around to see it. Naruto was no longer the annoying, attention seeking kid of his past, but an intelligent, caring individual. He displayed no jealousy of Sasuke, and didn't try to be his rival. Sasuke couldn't help finding himself wanting to get closer to this new Naruto, and, to his benefit, Naruto seemed to always stay by his side.
When the next exam came around, Sasuke had no trouble in becoming a Chuunin. He was allowed to rejoin Team 7, and shortly after that was promoted to the level of Jounin, joining Naruto and Sakura in the rank. As they were now performing missions together, Sasuke began to spend even more time with Naruto. In fact, the only time they were apart was at night, and this shortly changed as well.
One morning, Naruto was late for their daily meeting—later than even Kakashi. Sasuke was sent to find out what was going on, and arrived at the boy's apartment building just in time to find him being evicted. Naruto wouldn't divulge the reasons why, so Sasuke didn't push the matter. He helped Naruto gather his belongings, and they filled two boxes with Naruto's few possessions. After realizing Naruto had no place to go, Sasuke insisted that the boy come live with him. He reasoned that there was no point in having such a large mansion just for himself, and that there was plenty of room for Naruto. The blond gladly accepted Sasuke's offer.
The Uchiha mansion had not been properly lived in for many years, and Sasuke had not yet found the time to clean it up since his return. Once Naruto came to live with him, the two shinobi spent one of their rare free weekends in making the place inhabitable. They made a game out of it, and Sasuke couldn't recall a time when he had had more fun. He became increasingly grateful for Naruto's presence in his life with each day that passed.
Following one particularly rough mission, Sasuke offered to treat Naruto to ramen at Ichiraku's. Naturally, the blond accepted, and Kakashi and Sakura decided to tag along as well, although Sasuke made it clear he would only be paying for Naruto and himself. While waiting for their food to be made, Sasuke began playfully teasing Naruto on his choice of clothing color. As the two bantered back and forth, Sakura watched with mild interest. Kakashi looked up from his book and told them to stop flirting, which caused Naruto to blush heavily. Sasuke just smirked.
After the dinner at Ichiraku's, Sasuke stopped denying the fact that he found Naruto attractive. He had long been losing that mental war anyway. Sasuke began carefully analyzing Naruto's actions, in an attempt to determine how Naruto would react if Sasuke made a move on him. Taking Naruto's constant companionship and dedication as a positive sign, Sasuke decided to act.
On a rare evening, when the two sat at home watching an old movie on tv, Sasuke turned to his side and looked at Naruto. The blond stared back, so Sasuke gently cupped the other boy's chin and placed a light kiss on his lips. Letting go and leaning back to see Naruto's reaction, Sasuke was glad to see a small smile appear on the boy's face. They quickly found each other's lips, and clumsily began a battle with their tongues.
Their carefree romance was short lived. As they were all Jounins, Team 7 was often assigned the most dangerous missions requested of the Konoha shinobi. It then came as no surprise that when Orochimaru's whereabouts were discovered, they were the team sent to destroy him. Their trek after Orochimaru lasted for five long years, and after it was all over and Orochimaru was killed, Sasuke and Naruto remained the only members of Team 7 left alive.
The two Jounin carried the bodies of their deceased companions back to Konoha, where a somber funeral was held. Naruto cried and clung to Sasuke, but Sasuke found he could not shed even a single tear. Sure, he had liked Kakashi and Sakura, but at times like this his stoic personality always took over. Sasuke vaguely wondered if he would be able to cry if Naruto died. Squeezing the blond tighter, he assured himself that he would.
It turned out that Sasuke found the answer to his musings after all. Just under a week after their friends' names were etched onto the village's memorial stone, Naruto's life came to an end.
Their mission was supposed to be an easy one—a simple C ranked to help them get back in the swing of things. Ino and Shikamaru accompanied them in order to create a team of four, and no one expected an ambush by three Jounin level ninja from an enemy village. One of the shinobi used an unknown jutsu on Naruto; a hole was blasted through his torso, causing his heart to rip out. Sasuke witnessed this horror while battling another ninja, and killed the three enemies in a distressed rage. The senseless mission was then abandoned. Despite Ino's protests, Sasuke insisted on carrying Naruto's body back to Konoha, leaving her and Shikamaru to try and keep the heartbroken man up.
Sasuke didn't cry.
He didn't cry as he witnessed Naruto die, nor did he shed a single tear at the funeral. Instead, he boxed up all his emotions and erased his memories. Sasuke decided it was better not to feel at all, to avoid all pain, and to forget about the time he had shared with the blond. He isolated himself and was barely seen by anyone buy the Hokage, whom he often visited in order to fill up his time with missions to complete.
And, for the most part, Sasuke's plan worked. At least it had, until today, when he encountered the blond haired ninja who resembled Naruto so closely. Sasuke was forced to remember the past, to remember Naruto, and to remember their love. Long overdue tears streamed down his face, and he fell into a heap upon the dirt. He cried harder than he had as a child, until his tear ducts stopped working and his eyes were nearly swollen shut. Sitting up and rubbing his face with his arm, Sasuke fumbled with the pouch on his leg. He pulled it off and opened it up. After removing all the weapons, he reached in and closed his fingers around a small piece of paper. Sasuke carefully unfolded it and smoothed it against his leg. Slowly, a tiny smile began to form on his face. He got up and began to walk back towards Konoha, finally ready to embrace the present and make amends.
As he did so, his eyes remained glued to the paper in his hand, the only evidence he had to prove to himself that his relationship with Naruto hadn't all been merely a dream. It was a photograph of Sasuke and Naruto in love.
I asked my sister how I should kill Naruto, and she called me morbid…