Hindsight is 20/20, but Naruto knows what's going to happen.
He wonders where he went wrong.
He was a good best friend, the very best best friend. Probably the only friend the Uchiha-bastard ever had.
And he wonders if this is it. He wonders about a lot things.
Only today, he wondered what type of ramen he was going to eat for breakfast, because he didn't want his regular miso-pork.
Only now, he wonders whether anybody with a foot in death's door has had this overwhelming sense of dread/calm, this characteristically cliché sense of emptiness, punctuated by sky-shattering sense of failure. Not earth-shattering, because while the earth is the beacon of stability, the sky has always been there. It is there. It will always be there.
But the earth, the earth has changed. Become something new. One could argue that the sky and earth have always originated, but the sky remains the same, while the earth is ever changing, driven by unlimited desires and limited means, consuming itself into nothing.
He has always known the sky to be there, when earth could not.
Aren't humans made of earth?
(Ashes to ashes, dust to dust)
But, being on death's porch, there's the calm. This post-orgasmic (because that's what he thinks when he thinks of this feeling; the Uchiha-bastard's fingers: soft, cold, knowing, methodical, moreyespleasepleasepleasefuc k, everything's okay. Everything in the world's okay, because he's here.) haze, shock stirring within the lower parts of his stomach—
No, wait. That's just the Uchiha-bastard's hand through his chest.
Naruto coughs, more blood than necessary flowing out of his mouth. Everything is weird; the sky a hazy shade of sour reunions and everything is sharp, and blurry, but slight pink around the edges.
Is this death? Here goes to wondering.
He sees Uchiha smirk, and he feels himself weaken simultaneously.
"Che," Naruto grits. "What the hell are looking at teme?"
"Dobe."
It's silent, and before Uchiha can do anything more, Naruto says, "You are happy about this?"
The hand in his chest tightens.
Uchiha glares, his first slowly constricting around Naruto's heart, three seconds at a time. Uchiha cocks his head at Naruto, an action that doesn't go unnoticed
A hand drops heavily on his head, ruffling his hair.
Don't get killed, Iruka says. And pick up some vegetables.
It's a beautiful day.
Despite his predicament, it's a beautiful day. It always is in these types of situations. The sun is bright, the sky the same color as his eyes. There's a slight breeze, and he knows today would have been the perfect day for a perfect bowl of ramen. Sasuke could've picked any other day to kill him, but as whoever would have it, it had to be on a beautiful, perfect day, in the middle of grocery shopping.
Its with ramen on his mind and peace in his heart, that he stops breathing.
He closes his eyes.
There's something he could've done to prevent this from happening. Anything, he could've fought back and even seriously injured the Uchia-bastar—Sasuke and everything would have been fine.
But once he saw that blur of a body stop, and he got a good glance at the boy, that pale skin. That dark hair. Those lips. Those eyes.
He knew.
Hindsight may be 20/20, but in that moment, he knew what was going to happen.