This is my first fanfic ever. So cratique and review! w
Warning: If you do not like angst or pure fluff do NOT read this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Nobody Wants to Be Alone in the World
Thick grey clouds blanketed the sky. The air was wet and cold. The streets of Konoha were empty, though it was the middle of the day, not many people were usually out in this part of the city anyway. But today it was silent except for the wind starting to pick up. It was like the stillness in the split second before you see something crash to the ground.
A young blond shinobi walked slowly through the empty streets. His feet dragging, he made his way across the windy road. His head drooped so he stared blindly at the cold, hard ground. But the most peculiar things were his eyes. The young genins' eyes, always bright and optimistic, were dull. Empty. Eyes that were always the most unwavering and the last to lose their fire now lost and void of hope. Dead. They looked just like the sky. Drip… drip… drip drip… drip drip tat tat tat… It started to pour. Within a few minutes it was pouring. 'Is the sky crying,' thought Naruto numbly. He turned and looked up at the Hokage Monument. Rain ran down the mountain. Naruto looked up at the great hero of the village. Water collected at the bottom of the stone faces' eye and then flowed out in a river from the corner of the eye. 'Are you mourning, too, Yondaime?' He turned away.
Naruto entered his small apartment and shut and locked the door behind him. This was the first had been home since he left the hospital. "Last time I entered that door he was still…" Naruto didn't finish the sentence. He dazedly walked into his bedroom and changed into some dry pants. He took off his wet jacket and flung it across the room. Something flew out of the pocket and hit the picture frame on his bedside table. Both items clattered to the floor.
Absent mindedly, Naruto bent down and picked the two objects up. He looked a the picture frame in his right hand, left hand still limp at his side. The picture was familiar. Four faces stared out at him. The face at the top of the picture was Kakashi-sensei, his one visible eye closed happily. In the middle was Sakura-chan, lips pulled up in a cute grin. On the left was himself. Famous, toothy smile displayed on his face. Lastly the face on the right, the face he had subconsciously avoided. The pale face had an all too familiar scowl painted across it. Narutos' throat constricted. The face of the person he had grown so comfortable around, even close to. Sasuke... The emptiness left Narutos' eyes as a new emotion entered the cerulean orbs.
Wissssss… thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk. Eight kunai embedded themselves into the eight thick logs set upright around the training ground. On each of the logs a white circle with a smaller red circle inside was painted. Each of the kunai were in side the diameter of the white circle.
"Haha! Beat that Sasuke," bellowed Naruto.
"Hmph," was the stoic shinobi's only response as he walked to the center of the training ground and took out eight of his own kunai. Four kunai in each hand he stood at a ready stance. Then, with eight almost imperceptible movements, he fired the kunai almost instantaneously. Wissss… thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk. Every single one hit the red dots exactly.
"You got lucky," the blonde shouted.
"Hmph... Baka."
"Jerk!!!"
"Dobe"
Then Naruto looked at the item in his left hand. The tears overflowed. It was a hitai-ate. Etched into the center was the leaf symbol of konohagakure. Through the symbol was a deep gash. Naruto had put that scratch there himself. Yes, this was Sasuke's hitai-ate. This was the heartbreaking reminder that he had failed. Now he realized, look at the familiar hitai-ate, he might never see that face or here that voice ever again. Sobs racked his body as he lay down on the small bed. He hugged the picture and the hitai-ate to his chest and pulled his knees up to his face. Memories of the battle in the valley of the end washed devastatinglyover him.
"It wasn't meaningless. You have become my closest friend."
"You had nothing in the first place!! What the heck you know about me!!?"
"I will acknowledge that you are strong. Because… you are some one who knows the same pain of loneliness I do."
"Come… Naruto. Then… I will break that bond."
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut against the pain of the memories washing over him. But even through closed eyelids the tears and memories ran through. Sasuke... The change in his face. The power he used and the power he sought. His intent to kill. He hugged the photograph and hitai-ate closer as the endless stream of tears rolled down his face. As he gasped for breath through his sobs his eyes opened. The agony filled eyes caught sight of something on his wall. Tacked to the wall with a shuriken was a kunai stained with blood. His own blood. Naruto remembered why he kept that kunai. In Narutos' first battle he froze and got a cut on his hand, given to him by their enemies' metal claws. The claws had been poisonous, after the battle Naruto had stabbed his own hand to bleed the poison out. He swore on the pain in his hand and by that kunai that he would protect the old man and he would never need to be saved again.
That's right… Naruto vowed that he would never need to be saved… again! During that fight Naruto had been saved by none other than the young Uchiha heir himself. Yes! Sasuke had single handedly incapacitated the two enemies' chain weapon and gave them both a good kick to the head. If Sasuke had froze, like Naruto, then Naruto would flat out not be here to remember this today. That day was the first day Sasuke had saved him but not the last. A tide of bittersweet memories crashed over him.
"Are you alright… scaredy cat?"
"I don't know… my body just moved on its own… baka."
"How should I know…? I hated you."
"Don't die also…"
"Hey…. Naruto. Sakura… you have to save her… no matter what. I know you can save her"
"Never again… I've already lost everything once before… I don't ever want to see those dear to me die before my eyes again."
It felt like someone was stabbing a knife through his chest. The memories wouldn't stop! He never again would fight side by side by side with that shinobi. Sasuke had tried to kill him I the Valley of the End. Had almost succeeded. "W-w-w-why …" A pair of murderous red eyes flashed through his minds eye. Itachi. That was the reason Sasuke had betrayed his village to go to Orochimaru. To gain power. He had chose revenge over everything else… and in the process almost destroyed the only person who had become dear to him. Who came closest to understanding him. 'It's over…,' he thought in despair, 'He doesn't care any more… he's gone… the Sasuke I knew died in the Valley of the End.' More sobs ripped at his chest.
Sasukes' bemused and somewhat pained face floated across his mind. Something Sasuke had said in the Valley floated back to Naruto.
"Why…do you go this far for me…?"
Just for that moment, he saw the old Sasuke. The Sasuke who had risked his life to save his comrades. His friends. The Sasuke who Naruto considered to be the closest thing he could ever have to a true brother. "No," he whispered, "that Sasuke in sill alive." Buried deep within the avenger there is still a part, however small that part may be, that is the Sasuke that almost gave his life to save Narutos' numerous times. The part that is happiness, sorrow, sympathy and love is engulfed and buried under feelings of rage, hatred and vengeance.
Although the tears still came a small smile grew on Narutos' face. "Sasuke… I see it now," he said quietly, "there is still a part of you that cares. That is why you didn't… couldn't… kill me in the Valley of the End. I don't want to be alone again… and neither do you. You have suppressed all your true feelings with thoughts of retribution. I won't give up, Sasuke. I will bring you home. I will save you. Because… in truth… nobody wants to be alone in this world."
Owari
Eh? what did you think?
Inspired by the Songs:
"I Hate Everything about You" by Three Days Grace
"I'm Just a Kid" by Simple Plan
"Listen to Your Heart" by DHT (and yes I know that is sad)
"How Could This Happen to Me" by Simple Plan