((Yes, I suck at narusaku, not enough angst. So this is subtle, and for my friend Flaming Goddess's b-day which was april 27 so yeah.))
It was on a forgotten Sunday evening where Sasuke found himself in a strange predicament. The colors of the sky were blurring from red to blue, and the black birds cast their songs to the air where they fell upon deaf ears.
There he was, unable to move, his head was foggy with the feeling that it had taken a couple hundred hits to the head and he heard a groan from behind him. It was obvious from ho loud and obnoxious it was that the voice belonged to his old friend Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke tried to stand, anything to get away from the boy before he woke up, but it was then he noticed that he was firmly bound with a mixture of chakra, Ropes, and metal.
So as the silence was disrupted by the awakening of the second captive, Sasuke took his time observing the situation. As far as he cold sense they were simply alone, and the darkness of night was billowing over the last of the sun. Small splashes of galaxies dotted overhead, and he would have actually enjoyed this moment if he had been alone.
"SASUKE!? Why are you here!? Why am I here? It's dark! I'm hungry and I CAN'T MOVE!! OH GOD WHAT OF I'M PARLYZED!?" Sasuke wanted to die.
"Shut up."
"Oh, No wonder I couldn't move, we're tied up… chakra and everything too, someone must want us to stay here-"
"I SAID shut up dobe." Sasuke realized just what a blessing it was that he'd left the village.
"Ugh, I haven't seen you in two years and all you can do is call me dobe. You could at least have been taught some neat trick by Orochimaru that would get us out of here." Naruto Sighed, he was so close to his goal right now, he was right next to his best friend. The strange thing was he wasn't rejoicing, he felt slightly nostalgic, but it was almost as if they had outgrown each other. Still, he didn't go back on his word, and struggling with the bonds he grinned so widely even Sasuke could tell he was smiling though they were faced in opposite directions.
"But after, I'll still bring you back to the village." Sasuke writhed in irritation before speaking quietly
"Not if I kill you first."
"You still mutter too? God you haven't changed at all." He still only heard what he wanted to hear. Naruto hadn't changed at all.
Soon a silence settled, one so defaning, Sasuke himself could not stand the tension in the air. He could not sleep, and he could not enjoy the lack of words polluing his air.
After what seemed like hours, Naruto spoke up once more.
"Anyways, everyone will be so happy when we come back." He wouldn't stop now, it was too late to hope for any moment of silence, even the overpowering silence might have been better.
Everything was dark now, except for a faint glow of the chakra and the equally faint glow of the moon.
"Shikamaru and Temari are going out, they denied it to my but it was obvious, they're both jounin and perfect opposites, it's obvious."
How had they ended up like this anyway? He didn't even remember being attacked, much less defeated, and how did naruto get anywhere near him? Who was the attacker, and why were they just left here? Was it secretly weak, and after his eyes? Or Naruto's demon fox?
The blonde had no time for anything serious of course, all he could do was go on to him like they were still friends. They weren't still friends, right?
"Ino looks really weird now, Hinata grew out her hair..." These images flicked through Sasuke's mind, involuntarily. It was as if part of him still cared.
"Garra's the Kazekage, Akamaru's huge and Choji is still fatter than ever. Asuma is penniless because he has to take his whole team out on BBQ each year. Maybe w'll go on a double mission and end up at the ramen stand, Sakura would like that-"
"Sakura… what happened to her?" Sasuke's faint memories of the girl were full of irritation, but he still felt a small tugging sensation of wanting to know what happened to her.
"Well, she's even prettier now-" Sasuke never thought of girls as pretty (Or boys as handsome for that matter.)
"She kept her hair short" A sign she had gotten over him a little, he had made it known that he liked long hair on girls… but that's not enough to get an emotional response out of him and everyone knew it.
"She stopped wearing that dress, but she still wears red. She's super strong, not with chakra endurance, but brute strength. Her punches hurt like crap…" He laughed a bit.
"And when she smiles it's like a dream."
"Why are you like that…Naruto?" Sasuke asked, leaving his Stoic characterization for a moment
"What do you value in her? She's not the prettiest girl, she's obsessive over me, and no one really NEEDS love."
"That's the thing Sasuke, the only difference between you and me." Oh, right, there's only one.
"You see people as objects, objects near you and further away. They talk but you do not hear the passion in their voice. They are just bonds to you, nothing more. You make them and break them like they are child's toys. To you, people are just there, speaking."
He paused, looking at the moon whose nimble light bounced off all objects, echoing the blue eyes that had outgrown their boyish face.
"To me, they talk of all sorts of things, they talk of love, they talk of past missions and laughs." He spoke again as if he knew everything, and if he didn't know the idiot Sasuke would have believed his words.
"To me our bonds are not just bonds. They have meaning, substance, attachments that have more to do with happiness and less to do with worth. All you can think of is revenge, but all I can think of is to win, to be everything, to be a person who can create web of bonds so tangled and beautiful there won't be a single person who doesn't know my name." Sasuke coughed, ending the soliloquy.
"That still doesn't answer me though." He said drawlingly, his face laced with boredom.
"Why after her punching you, rejecting you, running after me, ignoring you… why do you still care about her. You'd be stronger by leaving her, you're a fool-"
"No, you're a fool Sauke. For breaking such a bond." Perhaps he had changed a little, though he could not see in the darkness of the never ending night, he did feel a stronger sense, and for a small moment Naruto and Sakura were there, not as objects, but as people, as friends. No… he shook his head I will never be weak again and the bonds were severed once more.
"I still care about her because love- even when unrequited-… is the best feeling in the world." Sasuke saw the moon rebound across the sky, before slowly dissipating as the first shreds of dawn rose to the living day.
The most beautiful feeling in the world…