The Stoic Secret

He was always so composed…..

"Hey Sasuke look at this!" the small seven year old boy ran forward in the grass, tripping on a lone stone resting among the blades. The paper that was in his hands blew in the wind, caught by the feet of a raven haired boy. Reaching down, the paper revealed clumsy squiggly images which were apparently of some fascination to the blonde.

"What are these supposed to be Naruto?" he teased Naruto, looking down on him, always looking down on him. The blonde's teeth pressed together as Naruto replied with a loud yell.

"It's me and you on a boat in a sea stupid!" huffed Naruto, dusting the dirt off his clothes as he stood up from the ground.

"Why would I be on a boat with a loser like you?" the raven smirked again at the fuming blonde. Why was Sasuke always so mean to him? The rotten bastard, "Do you even know how to swim Naruto?"

Naruto swiped the paper out of his hands, a blush coating his cheeks as he grumbled, "Shut-up, I'll learn how."

Then, without any particular rhyme or reason, the sound of a tiny meow reached the pairs ears.

Naruto looked around before settling on giving Sasuke a questionable look, "A kitten?"

"Very good Naruto, that is the sound a cat makes." Naruto glared at the smirking boy beside him, watching the raven's eyes silently sweep across the landscape for any sign of the noise. Naruto sighed, his eyes drifting down until a surprising sight caught his attention.

"Ah! Sasuke look!" the raven looked down, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of a puffy healthy plumb kitten resting on his shoe, looking up at him with the blue eyes and a pretty flat pink nose. His fur was gray and his tail very long and fat as it wagged back and forth like a dogs. It meowed again, up at Sasuke, with the most expecting tone. "I wonder if it belongs to somebody."

"Probably not, but his mom has to be around her somewhere." Sasuke sounded sure of himself as he ignored the kitten to search the yard with his eyes again. Naruto glared, why did Sasuke always sound so sure of himself? Sighing, Sasuke reached down and picked up the kitten, resting it on his arms as he walked forward, "Let's find Iruka and have him help us search for it."

Search they did, but in the end they found nothing. No sight of the mother or any other members of the litter. "Maybe he was the last one left and the mother just abandoned him?" reasoned Iruka, and somehow someway the flow of conversation ended with the decision to care and raise the kitten themselves.

So with baby kitten formula, bottles, and other handy tools the kitten was well feed and taken care of. They named him Cho, his favorite activities included annoying Sasuke, peeing on Sasuke's homework, and climbing in the water bowl until he was drenched and had to be dried with a towel by a panicked Naruto and Sasuke. All the while, Sasuke complained, "I really can't stand this kitten we should have figured out something else of him."

Naruto would glare at him for this. Why was Sasuke so focused on not caring for people and things? It drove Naruto insane.

I just don't know how I didn't see it coming….

A week or so passed, and slowly little by little the situation was crumbling.

The kitten was playing less and less, now even when it climbed in the bowl it did nothing but stare around the room in a depressed gaze. Sasuke would complain to the kitten, frown and shake toys in the kitten's face while Naruto simply watched, waiting for the raven to respond to his pleas for play. Wondering why Sasuke bothered when it was finally complying with his wishes to behave.

But the kitten loved Sasuke; it always rested on his shoes, always followed him around, crawling up his shirt until it rested on his shoulder where Sasuke would complain about the closeness without ever doing anything about it.

It's seemed like from the very beginning those shinning blue eyes had seen something in the raven the world was blind to.

I just don't know why I didn't think….

More time passed and the kitten grew thin, it would eat nothing but water no matter how hard they tried, though they did manage to at least have the little one eat something. At first Naruto worried about the kitten, fearing its sickness like he feared the sickness of his parents. But, gradually the kitten seemed to be reclaiming its vigor, curious, trouble-making personality causing Sasuke to scold it almost every thirty minutes as it explored the household.

That's why he wasn't expecting it when he heard a scream of "No!" while using the bathroom. Halting everything, Naruto ran down the hall and to the living room where Sasuke stood, a blanket cradled in his arms.

"It's still warm Naruto! He's still warm! It's not fair! It's not fair! He was doing better so why?!" tears streamed down the sides of the raven's face, his eyes squished together as snot slowly seeped from his nose and his trembling arms held a bundle close to his chest. "He wasn't supposed to leave me yet? Why did he go!"

Naruto was frozen, he couldn't move. Was this the Sasuke he had known all his life? The Sasuke who cared for nothing and no one, always striving for excellence and nothing more? Or was this a different Sasuke…someone who was hiding beneath the stoic face, a secret personality.

Sasuke held the kitten's body to his face, holding it there as his shoulder shook and silent sobs racked their way down his sides. Naruto rushed forward, his arms encompassing the other boy with caution.

Sasuke relaxed into his arms, the kitten's form resting gently on Naruto's chest as he rocked the other boy slowly back and forth, humming the same melody his mother did for him when he had nightmares. He ignored the soaked feeling of his shirt as the other boy moaned into his shoulder, gripping the cloth of his shirt as if he was going to fall without the grasp. "It's my fault Naruto, its mine."

And all Naruto could think was….

Why didn't I think that even he could cry like that?

I know this is sad, but i was feeling down. Its kind of halted my other stories, so I just decided to write a one shot and get out some of my emotion. I would appreciate reviews, but...Im not looking for any.

Thanks for reading. -Who Really Knows