"Hey, loser, I'm back."
Those were the words he had been waiting for. The words he had worked so hard to get. The words he had almost died for. Why, then was he not feeling happy? Why was he not embracing his best friend? Why was he still sitting down and not even greeting Sasuke?
"Loser. I'm back. Hear me?"
He was still motionless. It seemed to him as though his heart had burst inside his chest. This was because, at the exact same instant, that Sasuke had decided to return, he had decided he had had enough. He had enough of wondering why Sasuke had left him. He was tired of speculating ways he had messed up, wondering if his confession as he lay in a pool of blood at the end of the fight had been heard. He had given up. He had broken his promise, his creed. Yet, Sasuke had returned.
"Still love me?"
He finally did react to this question. He leapt to his feet and walked away. For he had finally realized that Sasuke did not love him, did not love him or anything else. Sasuke couldn't love him, there was no way. For, he lived in the present. Sasuke lived in the past.
"Stop. Where are you going? I think I may love you."
He whirled around. This abrupt motion as well as the terrifying apathy on the normally carefree blonde's face actually caused Sasuke to flinch a bit.
"I'm sorry. I left for so long and, I just, I don't know."
"You don't know? Well. Let me tell you, then, Sasuke." Naruto hissed out thewords. "You don't love me. I know you don't. You may think you do, but you don't. I'm tired of being toyed with, of being left "on a whim." What you love is being loved. Nothing more, nothing less." He continued walking away, with near no change in posture or facial expression.
"Just wait a fucking minute! I came back for you! For you, Naruto!"
"You really haven't realized yet? Truly? Both you and I have never been loved. We never had friends when we were children, both our families dead because of tragic incidents. We both yearn to be loved, to be cared for. That is what you came back for. You came back for the security that I symbolize in your tumultuous life."
"No, Naruto, I.."
Now, an ugly snarl appeared on his lips, underlining the fury that raged in his cerulean eyes. "Yet, you have never thought of returning this security for me! I need someone to be there for me, Sasuke, I need to feel loved. " His voice tapered off, his last few words were mere whispers. Then, he screwed up his face and belted out his next words, "I needed confirmation, Sasuke! I needed someone to tell me that I am needed in this world! You were never there, Sasuke, you ran away from Konoha, and you left me all alone. Alone! I won't allow you to just keep killing me inside! Fuck off and have a good life without me."