I'm sorry that I wasn't able to update last weekend. I was busy and couldn't find time to write. I'm gonna make it up to you by posting up a two-shot I wrote a while ago. I hope you enjoy this!
Important: First, I would like to say that this story is dedicated to one of the greatest friends I have ever had and will ever have in my lifetime (and maybe the next), Mel. She is actually the person that proved to me that people could love each other… and not be IN love with each other. Mel, you are my sister. Maybe not in blood, but in spirit. I don't know where I would be without you! I love you ((but not that way XD ha, ha))!
Now, about the story. It's in two parts. Mainly just ramblings, but I think it's beautiful. I know this sort of thing has been done so many times, but hopefully I've given it my own special zing and made those of you who have read things like this before, think twice about this story. And just so you know, the first part is Sasuke's point-of-view and it takes place right before the second part of Naruto starts.
Last thing. This is not meant to be Boy Love. I, as you should know, am a huge supporter of NaruSasu and SasuNaru, but… Having them love each other (that way) defeats the entire moral of the story. You know, the one that my friend showed me. They're just friends… Only in this story though :evil laughter:.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I mean there are just many things standing in my way of owning it. Not being Kishimoto-sensei, not knowing how to speak/write Japanese… the Pacific Ocean. The list goes on.
The term "best friend" is not one that should be thrown around without any thought or care into how it will be used. For to be "best friends" with some one, is truly a special bond. One that, no matter how much I would long for it to be not, is a bond so strong and deep that it can never be destroyed or forgotten. I've had the to learn this the hard way.
For you must understand, I have only given that title of "best friend" to one individual. They call him Uzumaki Naruto.
He is a peculiar boy indeed and I often wonder just how our odd and twisted friendship came into being. When I first met him, I did not think too greatly of him. He was an idiot. A screw-up. A loser. I thought myself to be far superior to him in everyway imaginable, and for a while his actions proved my thoughts to be correct.
It seemed that the blonde moron could simply do nothing right, and it was my duty as the best of our three-man-team to save the weakest link. I constantly saved him from utter peril that would have undoubtedly have befallen him if I had not, and I received not even the slightest hint of gratitude. But I would not have it any other way.
If Naruto had simply thanked me and said that he was in my debt for saving his life, I would have lost what little respect for him I still had. Instead of thanking me, he would only complain and nag, with no sign of shutting his big, fat mouth. I've almost forgotten how annoying he used to be in those first few months when we were a part of Team Seven. But now I have steered from my original thought pattern. What kept my small amount of respect for the imbecile was the simple fact that he never gave up. If he would fail, he would try again. If was weak, he would grow stronger. Such passion is not seen very often in children of his age.
But soon, the very characteristic that I valued in him soon became the source of all my jealousy toward the blonde. His will to better himself and his ability to do just that, infuriated me.
For how could a village reject ever hope to surpass the last heir to the Uchiha clan and a natural genius. It was inconceivable to even think it possible.
But it happened.
I couldn't stand it. I felt as if I was improving too slowly and that I was watching Naruto pass me by. The truth of the matter is that, even though I hate to admit this and will deny it still to this day that I ever said such a thing, but… that frightened me. It frightened me more than I ever care to speak of to anyone. Even him.
It may have been the fact that I still felt that I, the last Uchiha, should be stronger than that idiotic boy that I went to seek out power. But the more likely answer as to my reasons for leaving the village of Konohagakure would be that I felt as if the very first friend that could understand how I feel was leaving me behind. And perhaps he was more precious to me than even I realized, and maybe I had grown used to being the one to save him from danger, but it seemed as if Naruto could handle himself.
His goals of becoming Hokage we not merely idiotic fantasies of a delusional kid any longer. I could tell that he might actually stand a chance at gaining that title. Naruto was moving on with his life and working toward his goal. While I had even taken one step toward my own.
My goals of revenge against Uchiha Itachi. My older brother.
Ever since Aniki had savagely and brutally murdered our entire clan, I have sworn vengeance upon him. But after seeing him after so many years, I realized that even though I had gotten stronger, I was still so far behind my old brother. I was still cast in his shadow. Always forced to live up to his example.
No one can understand why I need to take revenge against my brother. No one can possibly even begin to understand. Which is another reason why I choose to kill Naruto.
He tried to understand. He tried to fix me. Him! That loser who dreamt of being in charge of the entire village and earning the respect from the villagers that he so greatly desired. How could he even think that he, who had nothing in his life, could understand how it feels to have it taken away? To see their deaths repeatedly in your head every night and know that there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. He could never understand. No one could.
But when he tried to bring me back, I saw that spark of passion in his eyes and knew that he was trying to be better than me once again. Like we always had done. Ever since we met we tried to best one another, and I had always come out on top. This battle was going to be no different.
He tried to tell me that we were equals throughout the entire fight, but I would not listen. I still saw myself as being above him. I was a fool.
If it were not for the power from Orochimaru, Naruto would have beaten me and dragged me back, defeated and humiliated, to the village. I would not stand for that. It was that day that I learn a little secret about my "best friend." It was the fact that within him slept the soul of the fearful Nine-tailed Fox demon.
Of course, at the time I wasn't completely sure that the strange powers that Naruto had were in fact that very same demon that cause havoc upon the village so many years ago. But after some time and thinking back to that fateful day, I realized that it could nothing else then the Nine-tailed Fox.
I tried to wrap my head around this idea for quite sometime. It was not that it was hard to accept the fact that he held within him the monster that destroyed our village. But it was the image of Naruto as the Fox's chakra took hold of him. He truly looked frightening. His eyes turned a blood red color and his whisker marks became more pronounced. Even his fingernail took on the appearance of something closer to claws. The very aura around him terrified me. Now that I look back on that day, I truly hate myself for referring to Naruto as a monster.
But it was not until we were both at our greatest levels of strength did I realize, that the idiot I had meet so many months ago had out grown his use for me. It was not longer necessary for me to constantly protect him. He could do that himself. And I felt so very useless. To be undone by a nobody. A dead-last loser.
When I finally had a chance to kill him, I paused at the last moment. I knew then that I could never kill him. He was after all my "best friend". Somewhere along the line I had learned to treasure his company and even long for it.
As I leaned over him, my face only mere centimeters from his own, my hitai ate scratched and lying there by his head, I knew that we were not equals. He was above me. He had surpassed me. Maybe not in strength just yet, but in something that now seems to be more important. I'm not sure if I could exactly put a name to it and if I tried I would not do that quality justice, but it would be most similar to maybe acceptance and love. And those qualities made him so very strong indeed.
After learning about the Fox demon, I finally understood why the villagers hated him so much. Why they would always look down on the poor child. Naruto had every right to be angry with the village of Konohagakure and its inhabitants, but he did not blame them. He did not seek vengeance for the injustice that had been done upon him nor did he even hold a grudge toward the person who sealed that monster inside of him. Instead, he would only smile that stupid, annoying grin of his and laugh, claiming that one day they would all respect and acknowledge him.
Naruto never let his depression show, which is yet another quality I admire in the moron, though once again because of what pride I have left, I will never admit to it. Through all his hardships, he was able to pull threw and to keep smiling, holding back the pain and tears. That is not to say that Naruto did not have them. He did. But the blonde refused to show his weaknesses in front of his friends, the villagers, and his rivals, like myself.
Such strength to keep smiling after something so horrible had occurred in your life is truly a quality worth having. It would also seem that upon having that skill, he was also able to give his strength and courage to the other people would seemed in need of it. Though most hated him, a few select people just seemed drawn to him. Drawn to his warm and accepting nature.
I was and still am one of those people.
Though I may not be able to admit it now, or may not even in the near future, but I really do need that idiot. After the many years I spent apart from him, I have learned what true loneliness has felt like. It was a sadness that seemed worse than that day that my entire family was taken from me. Naruto had become my brother, and being away from the only person who could understand and accept me, was pure torture.
I learned too late in life to not take the bond of friendship for granted, and I feel as if I would give up everything to fix that mistake. I learned after seeing Naruto again that true power comes from the will to protect the ones you hold dear to you. Revenge will not bring you power nor satisfaction.
But as I have said… I learned that lesson too late and now I am forced to continue down this path that I have chosen for myself. I have no choice but to keep going forward. Even though Naruto may not be able to forgive the awful things I have done to him, I hope he knows how much he meant to me and still does.
For he will always and forever be my "best friend." And nothing can change that.
This was actually very easy to right. Maybe because I have a strong purpose to write this story. Yes, it's short, but I didn't want Sasuke to have this huge monologue. He can only talk for so long on such a matter. It is Sasuke after all XD.
Hope you enjoyed it. Look for Naruto's chapter coming soon.