Hoarsely, Sasuke whispered, "Kill me. Kill me."
"Naruto," Sasuke said, hands pressed against the wall - is he supporting himself, Naruto wondered, taking in the pale, ghoulish air around Sasuke. His friend looked very much like a goblin, with his skin stretched across his cheekbones and his brittle fingers up on the wall.
"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Sasuke frowned, lips dark and thin. "Dobe." He added softly. The words fell flat, like dew rolling off blades of grass. Soft, meaningless, holding a beautiful sliver of yesterday.
They both knew they could never return to the past.
"I came to see you." Naruto said, not daring to touch his friend. Could he even call him that? Friend? What was Sasuke to him?
A brother. That was the answer that came up, the answer everyone knew and expected to hear. But seeing Sasuke in the silvery clothes, seeing his frame hunched and broken, he could only think of the smirking, confident boy that had been his
Best friend
Rival
Lover.
And now he was a stranger.
They had done almost everything together. Shared taunts, laughs, victories. Accident that it was, they had shared a kiss. Naruto mourned the fact that he couldn't remember the feel of the Uchiha's lips against his. But they had had that indescribable something, something that they both knew - he had to know, he had to know - was the sweetest, purest feeling they had ever felt. Something they hadn't felt since two years ago.
An idea.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke looks up, sensing urgency in Naruto's voice. "Did the ramen stand shut down?" He makes a weak attempt at his old biting humor, and he did not succeed. But he does fall into Naruto's trap.
Naruto grasps Sasuke's chin and kisses him, soft, sweet, gentle.
"I wanted to feel it again." Naruto said after they break apart. "That should have been our first kiss."
"It was," Sasuke murmurs, and Naruto gives him a smile. Sasuke's lips twitch in a faint parody of a smirk.
There was a beat of silence, and then -
"Marry me."
Sasuke stares at him, mouth open and red. "After everything?" He hasn't said no.
"I can fix you. All you need is me, Sasuke."
"I'm going blind, Naruto. I won't be able to see you. Your... your smile." Sasuke gives a dry, rasping sob. "I won't see your eyes - do you even know... they are so much more beautiful than mine..."
"There is no one more beautiful than you." Naruto thinks it, he feels it, and Sasuke needs to hear it.
Sasuke reaches up and kisses him hard, biting and scraping his lips.
"Marry me." Naruto repeats, "Stay with me, and I'll make sure you're safe."
"I can't." Sasuke says, shaking his head. "You shouldn't have to marry a traitor."
"I want to. I'll marry you, get you out of here." Naruto glances around the room, walls as thin and white as paper. "All I've ever wanted was you, Sasuke."
"Sakura..." Sasuke says weakly.
"She'll be okay. Please, Sasuke. I'm here to take you home."
"Home..." Sasuke speaks the words like they are new to his tongue.
"Home." Naruto promises.
For me, it's a glance and the smile on your face
the touch of your hands,
And an honest embrace.
For where I lay it's you I keep,
This changing world I fall asleep
With you all I know is I'm coming home,
Coming home
- Home, Vanessa Carlton