SEASONS OF SPRING

Sasuke-centric drabble.

Takes Place During: "The Unison Sign"

Y'know, when they're lying on the ground half dead. Remember that? Yeah. Good times.

And I'm just wondering how the heck I wrote this.

Wow...using "heck" anymore, even for censorship, is really cringey.

Enjoy "Seasons of Spring"!

Or not.

I dunno, maybe you don't like it. I don't think that high of myself.

AGH I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT THE DISCLAIMER

PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FANFICTION NETWORK

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of it's characters, plot devices, jutsu, plot holes, or settings.

Sasuke hated Naruto.

He was foolish, reckless, idiotic…and yet brave.

Brave enough to go through what Sasuke had, without becoming like the Uchiha himself. Quite frankly, he hated what he had done. It wasn't like his plan from the beginning to gain the Rinnegan and take over the bijū. It wasn't like his plan from the very start was to seek guidance from Orochimaru and try to kill Naruto. But that was just the way things happened.

He would never admit it aloud, but he regretted a lot of things. Getting obsessed with revenge. Power. Closing himself off from the rest of the world, selfishly believing that no one could truly understand him. But Naruto was always right there. He had always been able to share Sasuke's pain. And now, Sasuke could share his. Maybe if he had opened himself up and allowed Team 7- Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto- to help him, things wouldn't be like they were now. He wouldn't be lying there helplessly with Naruto, both their arms completely blown off, knowing that any sudden movement would cause certain death.

He cast his gaze downward to see the pool of blood around their hands. It almost resembled a heart. There was always some crazy symbolism that happened whenever the they fought. Sasuke instantly overpowering Naruto in their first days at the Academy, and both their realizations that they could feel each other's pain. Sasuke's headband falling off as he leaned over Naruto during their battle at the Valley of the End, showing that he was too far gone to be saved now. When Sakura had tried to kill him, and for a brief moment Sasuke had felt Naruto imagine they had switched places. Naruto, the angry avenger, and Sasuke, the persistent comrade who refused to leave a friend behind. Their feelings being shared in that brief moment they collided.

And now, their blood forming a heart between the two, showing that they shared one heart, and had an unbreakable bond. No matter how much Sasuke could ever try to cut Naruto off, it would never happen. Because they both knew and remembered Kakashi's first lesson. To never abandon a comrade.

Looking back on it, what shocked him the most was that he himself had allowed everyone to pass. If he hadn't, both Naruto and Sakura would have obeyed orders, and they would be sent back to the Academy. He was the one that taught teamwork to Team 7. At that time, he figured he could use Naruto and Sakura as a decoys, since that was his idea of teamwork. And yet his strange thought had let them become who they were today. Maybe if he hadn't chosen to feed Naruto, they wouldn't be in this mess.

But then, he had learned something that he would never forget. Spoken by Uchiha Obito, who later abandoned his comrades. "Those who disobey the rules are scum," Kakashi had said. He could hear their sensei's voice as he had been sitting down, watching in well-disguised awe as the jōnin's wisdom was revealed. "But those who abandon even one comrade are worse than scum." There were multiple variations of it, of course, but that was the saying that had rested in the back of his mind all this time. Even throughout his insane state, he had still remembered Kakashi's words. It perhaps was what allowed him from succumbing to Orochimaru completely.

Originally, he would have destroyed Itachi, and then gone back to Konoha. He wouldn't be liked, but at least the ever-so-annoying Naruto would be with him, as well as Sakura. Kakashi would be colder, but he could live with memories. His actions wouldn't be forgotten, but he would be trusted just enough to be able to live among Konoha again. But that wouldn't happen now, not after he tried to annihilate it countless times, sided with Madara, killed Danzo, and tried to kill their hero, Uzumaki Naruto.

"Oi, teme! You're awake! Oh, man, that sucks! I was gonna give you a punch wake-up call!"

Sasuke stared at him for a moment.

A strange feeling welled up inside of him, and he smiled. The Uzumaki recoiled in shock and surprise as laughter erupted from him, and he lay his head back, laughing to the skies. He didn't want to stop. He wanted to feel happy like this forever.

"You...dobe…" he wheezed. "You still...want...to fight?"

"If that's what it takes to stop all this nonsense, then hell yeah!"

Sasuke noticed a quirk at the edge of Naruto's mouth the second the word dobe left his mouth, and pretended not to notice.

"But I didn't want to fight! I was just gonna wake you up! Sheesh." The orange-loving ninja scowled and looked as if he were about to fold his arms, but then remembered the state of his right arm and stopped himself.

They were silent for a moment, and Sasuke breathed in deeply. There was the faint, salty tang of blood wafting around, as well as dirt and grit from the explosion of the statues. However, when he ignored all of that, what remained was fresh air. He hadn't breathed it in so long. Stuck in dimensions with Kaguya, underground with Obito and Zetsu, in his room with Orochimaru, stuck being silent and brooding around Team Taka. It seemed he had never had the chance to relax and take everything in. Someone was always around him. But Naruto was a special case.

Through winter, when the cold was at it's worst, Naruto had been there still happy and smiling, acting as if he wasn't hurt by anything. Sasuke had been walking around aimlessly and saw the blonde getting scolded by chunin. However, when Sasuke had stepped on a twig, Naruto had turned around. He then smiled and waved cheerfully, ignoring the chunin's furious stares. And he had wondered why Naruto seemed so oblivious to the cold. Maybe spring followed Naruto everywhere. And that spring had started to spread to Sasuke, who had begun to raise his hand to wave back. Then the journeymen ninja had dragged the child away, and Sasuke was left waving at nothing. Then the winter returned, and Sasuke had continued walking, shadows covering his steps once more.

Then they became genin. Naruto had confronted Sasuke, and then some careless ninja in training had bumped into Naruto, leading to their infamous kiss. That moment was summer. The intense heat from Naruto at that moment was enough to make Sasuke melt. Maybe it was Naruto's embarrassment right then, or maybe it was that Naruto was so close that the spring surrounding him seemed much hotter than usual.

It was a storming day when Sasuke risked his life for Naruto. It wasn't as if he had feelings for Naruto and wanted to protect him, but he felt obliged to. It wasn't fair that Naruto had helped Sasuke out of the winter, and then had to suffer. And so he protected Naruto, the sun, whom he would only find once in his lifetime.

Then the chunin exams came. Autumn. Orochimaru had come and changed Sasuke while he was vulnerable to summer's heat, and it had been the start of another cold winter. It was his downfall, and as his colors changed from sky blue to black, like the shadows on the ground, he landed there and ran off, seeking shelter from the onslaught. Naruto chased after him, lighting up the shadows, but Sasuke had kept running, knowing that soon Naruto would be gone. That winter would return and the clouds would close over him.

But he never left. He was still there, every day, occupying Sasuke's thoughts at the back of his head. Still trying to light up the dark places and let Sasuke see the light once more. But instead Sasuke hid behind dark flames, in which not even Naruto could pierce, and gazed straight into the darkness. Where Itachi stood, never showing emotion until the day he died, but grieving every day on the inside. He couldn't see the light if his brother was still in darkness, never to see Naruto's sun.

Winter seemed to last for an eternity. The sun could never catch him, and the shadows protected Sasuke from seeing that light, desperate to keep him in their clutches. The snow fell from the sky, and always found a way to reach Sasuke, no matter how hard Naruto tried to melt them.

And yet now, it was spring again. Naruto had melted the ice surrounding him and dispersed of all the shadows. He could see the light once more. And it was right next to him.

The air tasted cool, like ripe berries washed by rain, and the frosty air of winter. It filled his lungs, warm like the summer, and for the first time he felt as if he were free.

"Hey, you doing meditation over there?" Naruto asked, and he turned to see light- his light- staring at him with a smirk on his face.

Sasuke allowed a smile to cross over his once frozen face. "Shut up...usuratonkachi."

And Naruto laughed.