The streets were always crowded at this hour; it was noon, after all. That meant lunchtime.
And true to his character, he was found cramming his face with ramen, at Ichiraku's—where Teuchi smiled at him affectionately. After seeing the blonde almost every day, the same hour for the past ten years, a special fondness towards him wasn't avoidable. And he wasn't the only one.
Sakura spotted him from the flower shop—the spiky blonde tufts of hair gave him away. Lips switching upwards, she speed walked across the dusty road to sit down beside him, on the stool, tapping him on the shoulder impatiently.
"Baka," Naruto's sparkling blue eyes noticed Sakura, her face showing signs of a scolding, "you're sixteen. Why haven't you died yet?"
Gulping heavily and setting his chopsticks down, "What are you talking about Sakura-chan?" Genuinely puzzled, he watches as Sakura shook her head and sighed.
"Ramen. It has absolutely no nutritional value!" she disciplined, her lips portraying annoyance, but her eyes were worried. It was pure concern, but Naruto obviously didn't see it.
"Ah, it's no big deal Sakura-chan. I've been eating this stuff for years," and to prove it, Naruto lugs strings of noodles in his mouth again, and swallows it down, "and life without ramen? I'd die anyway."
Naruto knew she couldn't help it. It was her nature, being motherly and all. Not that he minded.
"Yeah well, when you collapse from malnutrition don't say I didn't warn you, Naruto-kun."His eyes widened a little, and something in the pit of his stomach stung, and burned. Naruto-kun? When had that started? Naruto looked at his ramen guiltily…like he didn't deserve it. Did he deserve anything really?
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Since Sasuke was usually a very irritable person, the current situation wasn't exactly surprising.
Downright agitated, he clutched his heavily bleeding arm, wincing. If Neji wasn't such a sore loser, he wouldn't have thrown that stupid shuriken when Sasuke's back was turned, making Sasuke block it with his arm, cutting himself. But then again, it was worth it. Seeing that look of self-frustration on the bastard's face was satisfying, after all, and Sasuke could get this patched up anyway. Pride was something you couldn't heal easily.
Walking casually to the hospital, where Sakura probably was to heal his wound, he frowned. He heard loud voices from behind the flower shop; and they didn't sound friendly. Enemy ninja?
Peering over the corner of the brick wall, he was immediately on guard when identified two men yelling and sneering at a huddled figure, with intimidation. Eyes narrowed when one of the voices he recognized.
"Please, just stop," The voice was so familiar…it was a male's voice, no doubt…but who was it?
"If I were the Hokage I would've locked you up in a jail cell by now, you worthless pile of trash," one of the men spat rudely. Tall and well-built, he looked almost frightening, towering over the other ninja.
"He doesn't deserve that sort of kindness," said another man, who was much taller than the first, but lankier, "he deserves a death penalty. Its all your fault, you damn Kyuubi!"
Kyuubi? The nine-tails? Was that Naruto? Sasuke blinked. It couldn't be, right? The Naruto he knew wouldn't listen to them, he would've fought them off…not lie there, giving up…Sasuke's frown deepened.
"Someone as ugly as you doesn't even have a right to live,"
"Yeah, man. Look at his face. It's the most revolting thing I've ever seen."
The insults didn't stop, and Sasuke couldn't move. He couldn't…
His feet were glued to the ground…
But what was this feeling? Anger? Disappointment? Resentment?
Guilt…
The voices were gone. Sasuke couldn't hear anything, except the rustling of the leaves in the wind, and his own shallow breathing.
He didn't know how long how was there, his back flat against the brick wall, knowing Naruto was there on the other side. But he sat there the whole time, unknowingly, unable to waver, as Naruto cried.
Rain fell, making tears invisible.
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Naruto stared at his reflection in the mirror.
"Worthless pile of trash…"
"It's all your fault!"
"Someone as ugly as you doesn't even have a right to live…"
"The most revolting thing I'd ever seen…"
And that's exactly what he saw in the mirror, a disgusting creature with tears streaming down it's face…
Releasing a shuddering sob, he punched the mirror, shattering sharp shards of glass everywhere, some embedding in his flawless skin.
Because for the first time, he believed them.
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I should seriously just die. I'm horrible. I'm a sadistic bitch (hehehe Alicia, double meaning)
I know, I know, I'm torturing Naruto but I had no choice. My best friend (randomorange22, she's has a DeiNaru fanfiction so GO READ IT. YOU'LL GET COOKIES) gave me this idea at school. So I don't know if it's going to be just a two-shot, three-shot, four-shot or whatever my brain comes up with, so in short, this isn't the end. I'm still working on this one, it's not over I'm not going to be an evil bitch and leave Naruto depressed
And damn, thanks for actually reading this, even this pointless author's note. It means a lot, just clicking on this story. You have, no idea.
I have two other SasuNaru stories, complete, short. And I have Iridescent; it's in the works, three chapters in…
Disclaimer; I don't own Naru-chan. But Uchiha Sasuke owns a certain lower part of his body
/./signouttttttt.