AN. I know that I really should be updating my other stories, but I just can't get into them at the moment. If anyone wants to adopt one of the stories before I finally get off my lazy but and get to them again, you're welcome to, just let me know. Here's a oneshot that I just COULDN'T get out of my head. Hope it's not too bad…

When had it started? Had it been when they realized that they were the same? When they were alone with no one to turn to and saw that the other was the exact same way?

That must have been it. That must have been why they became so drastically different. Moon and Sun. Loud and Silent. Water and Fire. Wind and Lightning.

"CHIDORI!"
"RASENGAN!"

The two clashed ferociously, paying no mind to their surroundings. Their sole focus was on their opponent. The irony of it all.

As children, they were terrified and in a fit of silent rebellion, two lonely kids chose two separate paths. One hid all of his pain behind a mask of happiness. The other shut himself away from the world.

The one with the mask was infuriated – no. He was jealous of the other. His defense mechanism, as silent and cut from the world as possible, brought attention to him – attention that he never spared a thought for. How often had the blonde haired, blue eyed boy looked on at this in envy and wished that it was him in the center of attention, where he was praised for his hard work and not shunned and sneered at with hated glares?

Later on, after Team 7 had been formed, Naruto realized that it hadn't been the acknowledgement of the villagers that he had been pining after. Subconsciously, he had been seeking out the approval of the "bastard", as Naruto had taken to calling Sasuke.

Sasuke was the one who knew what it was like to be alone. Sasuke was the one who knew the pain that Naruto had suffered.

And now, as he stared into blood-red eyes that were a curse named a gift by the idiots of old, Naruto felt oddly cold.

He had always wanted this. To have Sasuke's undivided attention. Sasuke's acknowledgement of his strength. But not like this. Not as he was fighting to bring Sasuke back home.

Home. Konoha was no home without Sasuke.

Naruto had known for years that he loved Sasuke. Not romantically, of course. This love was one for a brother. A brother to protect and be protected by and to bicker with and fight with and find comfort in.

But as Naruto gazed at the body at Sasuke's feet as they broke apart, he knew that not even the strength of a bond between brothers would be able to bring Sasuke back to his senses.

He was becoming colder. Perhaps Sasuke was stealing all of his warmth. He wasn't sure. All he knew for certain was that this was the end.

There would be no walking away from this.

The moment Naruto came to this conclusion, his eyes, which had been burning with purpose, flickered before going dull – lifeless.

That was the moment Sasuke Uchiha, for the first time in a very long time, felt absolute terror flood through his veins in time with his pounding heart. He saw the light leave the dobe's eyes and the look that overtook Naruto's face was so foreign that he wanted to shout and scream. He wanted the idiot who was always yelling at him to return home - to return to him.

And that was when Sasuke realized that Naruto didn't intend to emerge alive from this battle. He intended to allow Sasuke to finally sever the last remaining strands that kept their bond attached.

This angered him, and with a roar, he launched himself at the only person he had ever allowed the title of rival, best friend… brother, after the Uchiha massacre.

The clashing of steel against steel as Naruto half-heartedly blocked Sasuke's advancements added another crack to Sasuke's shattering heart. A heart that he had forgotten even existed.

"Fight back!" Sasuke cried desperately. The desolate expression upon Naruto's face caused so many emotions to churn within him. Hate. Despair. Sadness. Horror. All results of Naruto finally giving up. Something that he never thought would happen.

Naruto didn't hear Sasuke's plea, however. His mind was still on Itachi Uchiha's dead body. The body of Sasuke's brother. The brother that Sasuke himself had killed with his own hands.

"For God's sake! I thought you had a promise to fulfill, DOBE!"

That jerked Naruto from his thoughts. No matter what, that insult – that calling him of dead last and loser and idiot… it had always been something that Sasuke the rival had always teasingly called him.

New determination lit up his eyes and he began to fight back with renewed vigor.

But, this merely prolonged the inevitable.

"You always were a bastard," Naruto choked.

Sasuke had delivered a fatal blow via Chidori to the chest while Naruto had done much the same with his Rasengan.

Despite the insult, Sasuke smirked. "I know."

The necklace that Tsunade had given Naruto glinted in the light. It had popped out of Naruto's jacket while he had been fighting and now it dangled right next to where Sasuke's hand had speared through Naruto's chest.

"Guess I wasn't Hokage material after all, huh, Teme?" Naruto laughed weakly. His sight was dimming and his body felt like it had been completely submerged in ice. "I couldn't keep any of my promises to Sakura – chan or Tsunade – baachan, or to you."

"Hn." Was Sasuke's only response.

The crystal necklace again caught the sunlight in its facets.

Sasuke's heart stopped beating first, his battle against his brother had tired him too much to try and persevere through this. Naruto, stubborn to the end, didn't follow for a few minutes more.

The necklace caught the sun permanently now, as there was no more movement of Naruto's chest to move it away from the sun's rays. It reflected in such a way that other shinobi searching for Naruto or Sasuke would be led straight to their bodies.

Sakura and Kakashi would be the ones to find Sasuke and Naruto lying dead in the Valley of the End hours later.

Naruto would be mourned and Sasuke would be buried beside him, mostly shunned even in death for his abandonment of the village. But, in memory of Naruto's dream to bring Sasuke back, his name was added on the list of heroes KIA right underneath Naruto's.

And in a meadow with a beautiful stream and a bonfire that reached up towards the sky, there was a fox with the speed of lightning that played with a raven that possessed the love of the wind.