Disclaimer: You know the drill.

A/N: I was really pleased with this fic. So, I'm in want of feedback. I thought, why not post it on too? It's on my LJ, and it was originally written for the 20loves challenge on LJ; even though I'm not officially in the community. As I've said on my user page, I'm not comfortable with my level of writing at the current moment. This is big enough as it is. Hn...it is AFTER THE TIME SKIP. After. A long time after. Sasuke and Naruto are in their early twenties. So no going ZOMG SASUKE BLAH BLAH.

kthx. Feedback is, of course, desired. No outright flames, please. I'll be very pissed off if I get flames on this. Constructive comments only. Tell me if you hate it, but tell me what about it you hate. If you just plain love it, say so! Ego boosts make me a happy girl.

And please forgive the OOC nature of this. I tried.

Tonight, I'm Gone.

Dead punk Girl

There was an annoying buzzing in Naruto's left ear. He only vaguely heard it, lying sprawled on the chilled tiled floor, unconscious to the world. Slowly, sky-colour eyes and the blond shinobi looked about without lifting his head. His gaze drifted upwards, resting on the fluorescent light that was obviously on it's last life.

Groaning, he rolled onto his back with a wince, pain shooting up and down his spine. That bastard Sasuke...his fists hurt when they needed to. But that wasn't really what hurt the most and Naruto knew that without a shadow of a doubt. It was the fact that, even now that Itachi was dead and Orochimaru was a memory, Sasuke wasn't coming home. Naruto had always, always had the sneaking suspicion that he'd be chasing the Uchiha for the rest of his life and their last encounter had proved that.

Only, he hadn't come out victorious as he had intended. Rather, he had gotten fooled and wound up unconscious on the Akatsuki Complex floor, fairly certain that the other male would drive the Kusanagi through his spine and end his life. But, instead, he had been spared either by the Gods good Graces or by Sasuke's own mercy. Whatever was left of that, of course.

"Fucking...asshole," Naruto grit his teeth as he sat up, rubbing the back of his neck absently, his fingers pressing against the bruise to check for anything else.

"Good morning to you, too."

Naruto jumped and turned his head with a pained wince, his eyes widening at the figure who stood, leaning casually against the wall. Really, he hadn't changed so much. His hair was still in that ridiculous duck-butt spike, Naruto noticed with a faint frown. The idiot changes everything else but not his stupid hair-do.

"Why are you still here?"

"Because," Sasuke pushed off the wall and stepped towards him, keeping a safe distance at the same time, "I know you. If I wasn't here, you'd go looking. You'd rip this complex apart, blowing holes in the walls with Rasengan, wouldn't you?"

Nothing had changed; not really. Even after nearly ten years, nothing had actually changed and Naruto hated that more than he hated the chilly, condescending tone he was being addressed with.

"So why didn't you kill me?" Naruto snarled, "You had the chance. You could have driven that sword right through me after you knocked me out, you bastard. So why didn't you?"

"Why would I?" He drawled, "I have no reason to kill you at the moment. You're good for the organization...Sir Leader would kill me if I killed you and your little pet fox."

Naruto grit his teeth, dimly remembering the day Tsunade announced that the former Leaf genin Uchiha Sasuke had taken his brother's place in Akatsuki. He shifted, the tile numbing him and for once, Naruto didn't mind; "So, what? That's it? That's the only reason? Sasuke, we were friends once! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Sure, I guess," He shrugged his shoulders in response, "But why would it now?"

The blond gaped for a few moments before he chuckled almost bitterly, which was so unlike Naruto it was almost scary. Shaking his head, he sighed; "I didn't think so. So you didn't kill me because your boss would pitch a fit?"

"Exactly."

"You're so full of shit," Naruto snarled under his breath, irritation making his tone tight. He could feel the Kyuubi stirring and it took all his effort not to turn and stare at his former friend, former team-mate. It had taken all his self-control not to stare the first time, when he had seen the Uchiha starting up the flight of stairs.

The curse seal ran rampant across his cheeks, like spilt ink on silk, and without the sharingan his one eye was an off-gold color. His Sound headband bore a strike, apparently put there by that blond guy who took Shukaku.

"How," Sasuke demanded, making the simple statement sound nothing like the question it should have been, "You're the last one, dobe. The only one with a demon left. You've done a good job evading us."

"When are you going to quit bull-shitting yourself about everything?" Naruto growled out, finally allowing his eyes to rest on the other shinobi, "When you're dead? When I'm dead? Gods, Sasuke…why are you doing this to yourself? To me?"

"Oh. Like you matter anymore," The Uchiha shook his head, moving close to kneel down next to him, "You see, Dobe, that's where you're wrong. Not the entire world cares about you or what you want."

"You used to."

"I used to do a lot of things," Sasuke remarked with a shrug of his shoulders, his off-colour eyes watching the other carefully. Vaguely, Naruto noticed that he hadn't brought the Sharingan forward, which meant he didn't consider him a threat or he wasn't interested in a fight; "But things change. So do people."

The blond swallowed a little, closing his eyes briefly, "Things haven't changed. You haven't changed; not really. You're still the same Sasuke I remember…just…you seem further away from me. And I haven't changed, either. I'm always going to be chasing after you."

"That's by your own stupidity, and that alone," He snapped back, "I never asked you to come on this stupid quest to save me. You assumed that I wanted saving. I never asked you to."

Naruto wanted to hit him, "You didn't have to!" He cried, biting his lip as he realized how loud he had been. The last thing he needed was to alert everyone of their location; "You didn't have to, Sasuke. You're my friend. Friends help each other. We were team mates!"

"So you think that gives you a right to act like you understand everything so goddamned well?" He hissed back, "You think that because we were 'friends' and 'team mates' it gave you a right to just jump in like the hero and save me? Please, Dobe. I'm not Sakura; I don't need rescuing."

"And nor does she! But you'd know that if you were there," Naruto lowered his eyes, then, exhaling breathily as he ran a hand through his hair, "I suppose…now, you're going to just hand me over to Akatsuki and let 'em kill me, right?"

There was a very long, pregnant silence between them at that. It made Naruto's skin prickle because Sasuke always, always, had an answer to everything.

"That seems like the smart thing to do, huh?" He finally asked, "That sounds like it would be the best choice. But where's the fun in the capture if I just…cheat?"

"You didn't cheat, Sasuke, you beat me fair and square," Naruto was still sour over that fact, "So if that's what you want to do, then by all means, do it."

Sasuke sat, then, showing the first real signs of anything other than chilly distance since they ran into each other, "You want to die?"

"Nope. Who wants that?"

"No one. Then what do you want?"

Naruto was quiet, his eyes remaining on his legs before they slowly raised to meet the other boy's, "You, Sasuke. I want you; I want you to come home, to make things better, to go back to who you were," He waved a hand in gesture to the seal on his cheeks, the Akatsuki cloak he now wore, the sliced Sound headband, the off-colour of his eyes, "This…this isn't you. This is you pretending to be something you're not. You're not an Akatsuki villain. You're my friend."

"And I guess this is you in denial?" Sasuke drawled, shaking his head, "Why can't you just understand, Dobe? I'm not who you want me to be anymore. Does that bother you so much?"

"Of course it does," Naruto shook his head, "I mean, why wouldn't it?" He was quiet, then, his tongue coming out to lick at his dry lips, "I…Sasuke, I do care about you. Even through all this, I still…well, you know. I still think of you as a Konoha Shinobi. The Old Lady…she'll listen to me. She'll pardon you, if I ask her to."

There was a soft snort as a response, "And who said I want you to? You can't be as dumb as you look, Naruto. You can't be. Dumb shinobi are dead shinobi, and you aren't dead."

"So I guess this is how it is, right? You're always going to be that one step ahead, and I'm always going to be chasing you? Is that it?"

"I guess so."

Naruto sighed, "I should probably give up."

"Probably," Slowly, Sasuke rose to his feet, the red clouds on his cloak rippling like water. His eyes remained on the blond, never wavering for a moment; "Seems like the wise choice."

"I'm not going to," His voice was unusually small and quiet, "You caused me so much heartache. I couldn't eat or sleep because of you. At those moments," A chuckle, "I hated you. And yet, I don't regret a single moment I spent with you. You pushed me. You made me better in more ways than I can count…" He smiled, almost sadly, as he looked up at him, "That's why. That's why I won't give up until you're back in Konoha. Even if I have to break every --"

"Bone in my body," Sasuke finished quietly, "I know. And you promise me that, and you don't back down from your promises. It's your ninja way. I know, Naruto. I've heard this speech a hundred times before."

"So why don't you save me the trouble and just come home?"

"Because I don't want to," He shook his head, offering him a hand up, "…Just go, alright? Before someone comes down here and finds you. Consider this mercy, okay?"

Naruto was silent, staring at the outstretched hand almost dumbly. He took it, accepting the help and once he was up, he dusted his front off; "If you say so. I'll see you again, won't I?"

"So long as you have Kyuubi, yes."

"Are you sure you don't want to come back?" He had to try; he had to ask at least once more. He couldn't let that chance slip by.

"…Yes. I'm sure," There was a hesitation that hadn't been there before and Naruto couldn't help but grin. Instantly, his arms shot out, catching the other boy in a bone-crushing hug. He held tight, despite the squeak of protest and the hands that were now pressing against his chest in a futile attempt to dislodge him; "My god, Naruto! Let me go, goddamnit! You fucking loser! Let go!"

"No," His voice was firm, nothing more than a heated whisper against his ear, "I'll never actually let you go. You hear me, Sasuke-bastard?"

Silence.

He gave a slight squeeze, "You hear me?"

"Of course I hear you," Sasuke hissed back, "You're talking in my ear, dumb ass. You going to let go of me now?"

A laugh, "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

Slowly, he let his arms unwind from the thin figure in front of him, grinning none the less, "I've never hugged you before. You're awfully skinny…I could probably break you over my knee."

"Shut up," Sasuke hissed, entirely unwilling to admit that, despite their situation, he had liked being held by those strong arms.

"You gotta change that light, too," The blond remarked, nodding up to the flickering light bulb, "It's goddamned annoying."

"I will. Just…go already, will you?"

"Trying to get rid of me?" Naruto grinned, "That's not very nice, y'know. You could have hurt my feelings."

"Like I give a shit. Just get the fuck out of here, Naruto."

This time, he obeyed, moving towards the door he came in through. Sasuke did the same, shuffling over to the door on the opposite side of the room that lead to the staircase. However, he paused and looked back, smiling sadly; "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, I guess."

"Really?"

"No."

Naruto gaped for a minute before his eyes narrowed, his lips pulling into a pout, "Bastard."

"Idiot," Sasuke tugged the door open, glancing back at him, "Get going, Dobe. Don't just stand there."

"…Ne, Sasuke?" The blond's voice was again hushed and he couldn't help but smile a little at him, "I love you."

Silence.

Naruto took that cue and slipped through the door, but he didn't leave. Instead, he turned and pressed his ear against the door to listen. He had to strain to hear it, but it was there.

"I love you, too, Dobe."

The door creaked shut then, and Naruto knew that he was gone without even having to look.