Warnings: Um, angst/death. Not bad, just...too much info will give it away. Just accept it's a little sad. Experimental format. After the series.


Under My Own Power
by vernajast

naruto and sasuke

"Sasuke! I'll bring you back to the village even if I have to break your legs to do it! I'll break every damned bone in your body, bastard! JUST COME HOME!"

It was a...pretty speech; I wonder if you believed it. I wonder if you practiced it in front of the mirror until your throat was sore and you knew you could say it even if you were this close to collapse. Especially then.

No, I don't.

I don't think about it, or why I let you go that day. I don't wonder if you knew how I almost...

In the end, it didn't matter, did it? Iruka's first rule: It only takes one well-placed strike in a vulnerable spot to kill a man. Anyone who knew you could have guessed that spot was your heart.

"Yeah, well I would guess yours is your ass!"

Hn. [Naruto always smelled of dirt and greenery, so very much alive. Dark eyes shift to the ground, picking out the valleys and specks in the soil, patterns of blond sunlight filtered through branches. Waiting.] Perhaps I deserve that.

And perhaps I deserve this. It can't be helped.

A last, wilted white rose remains on the table. I don't wonder if they were expecting me; that I'm not killed on sight is sure affirmation. That I'm allowed to approach the faded photograph is...surprising.

That I'm able to walk away...

...is disappointing.

I'm back in the village, dobe; you brought me back, even if I can still walk. You brought me back, broken, as promised.