A/N: Just a short oneshot that I've been working on for awhile. Have fun people and do a snow dance.
"Talking perceptions, people. Do we really see each other
for what we really are, or de we just see what we want
to see, the image distorted by our own personal lenses?I
lost someone today and the funny thing is, I don't even know who
she was."
-Jeff Melvoin, Northern Exposure, Loves and Madmen, 1994
The perceptions that the villagers of Konohagakure no Sato held of two of their most infamous members: Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. They were held with rancor and hatred in the eyes of the villagers, but only a certain few could see who they really were.
Ichiraku knew Naruto was an energetic boy who had a bright infectious smile. He also knew that the boy hid behind a mask and could barely read. And Sasuke, was faced with social awkwardness. People always seemed to bring up the things he had done. It was no wonder they acted the way they did.
But Ichiraku didn't know see what the Hokage saw in their interactions with each other. She knew that the two would willingly sacrifice themselves for the other. Tsunade also was aware that they were more like brothers than comrades and friends. The two may bicker and fight, but they wouldn't be who they were without each other.
However, no one knew what the two knew about each other and how much they knew those perceptions were wrong. Sasuke knew Naruto could barely read because the villagers had been too frightened of a five year old to actually teach him. He also knew that Naruto wasn't as happy as he pretended to be. Sometimes the smile would slip and normally bright eyes would take on a hollow look. Sasuke knew because he noticed. So he would try to make him happy because an unhappy Naruto was just not Naruto. But he let Naruto say the things that normally weren't said because Sasuke understood what it was like.
Naruto knew Sasuke had a drinking problem that had come to fruition through joining the ANBU. He also knew he suffered from insomnia. Sometimes he would come over in the morning to find he had never slept. Naruto bought food that was cheap and may not have been the best, but he had had to practically drag his best friend to the grocery store after a week of not eating a thing.
Both of them understood what is was like to be ostracized for something. And the two found solace in each other's company because they knew who the real person was. Not the person who was seen through the critical eyes of the villagers or the elders. After all, they were just people trying to survive on their own.
"Humankind cannot stand very much reality."
-T.S. Eliot (1888 – 1965)