A/N: This came to me while I was taking out the trash. Amazing, right? I actually wrote in SasuSaku friendship. Trust me, it nearly killed me. The really sad part is I enjoyed it. Not as much as I enjoyed the NaruSasu friendship...but I'm pretty sure I kept them equal. I love team friendship.
Disclaimer: Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto
Warning: It sounds angsty, but, never fear, it really isn't! Really! -does Lee's good-guy pose-
Sasuke was always nicer to Naruto.
Sakura didn't know why. Sasuke insulted him, fought him, pushed him down, but he helped him. He saved his life, once in a while. Maybe he felt that everybody wanted him and nobody wanted Naruto, and that he had to do it, to restore some sort of karmic irony to the universe. Naruto didn't like it, didn't like the way that Sasuke stole the spotlight, because he was rash and didn't wait and see that he mattered to him.
Sakura didn't understand it, not really. Sasuke was closer to Naruto, because Naruto dared to despise him, to try and beat him, and because he despised Sasuke he'd always stick by him, because it was all a challenge that he'd never win. But Sasuke was still nicer to Naruto.
Sasuke was always nicer to Sakura.
Naruto didn't know why. Sasuke made her cry with his rejection, but he was polite. He did nice things for her, once in a while. Maybe he felt guilty that, after all she did for him, he didn't seem to care. She meant something to him, and she knew that. She didn't like him anymore, so it was enough for her, to know that she mattered to him.
Naruto didn't understand it; not really. Sasuke was closer to Sakura, because Sakura didn't run around yelling his secrets, and because, even though she didn't really understand, she'd smile and nod and try to imagine what it was like to be him, and she'd never succeed. But Sasuke was still nicer to Sakura.
Sakura and Naruto had changed.
Sasuke didn't know why. Well, he knew why: it had been four years. But he didn't know how they'd ended up being best friends, when he'd been their best friend. They had all the right to shun him, to let him be an outcast, to keep on living in their happy bubble of best-friend-ness.
Sasuke didn't understand it, not really. Naruto was closer to Sakura, because they'd been all that was left when he left them, and because they'd matured together, chasing him, fighting him, fighting other enemies. But Sakura and Naruto had changed.
Team Seven had grown up.
Kakashi knew why.
He understood it; understood that Sakura and Naruto believed in Sasuke, believed that he'd return, and that he did, and hoping for it had brought them closer.
Sasuke would never realize how much he mattered. Sakura would never realize how much she mattered. Naruto would never realize how much he mattered. But they did matter, and that's all that…mattered.