Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the songs used in this fanfiction...

Summary: They had a bond that they thought could never be broken. Their love for music only seemed to bring them closer together but when their dreams of stardom are close enough to touch, Naruto and Sasuke learn that fame isn't everything. SasuNaru.

Author's Note: Hey everyone, I know you are all waiting for the epilogue to The Proposal and it is coming, slowly but surely. Anyway I really liked this story and decided to revamp it. I hope that everyone likes the changes, please do let me know what you think.

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Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto's first and let's face it, only love. Naruto had somehow found himself sitting on his hotel bed staring blankly at the patterned wall. Thinking about him. He didn't even know how he had gotten back to his hotel room. He just knew that after hearing what Sasuke said, it was too much; he had to get away, away from the emotion, away from his feelings, away from him. It was funny, there was once a time when all Naruto wanted was to be with Sasuke, to just be around him was all he needed. He didn't know when that changed, when just being with him wasn't enough for Sasuke.

He finally found him. After all this time he was within his reach. Not ten minutes ago he was in his embrace. So why wasn't he happy? Why did he run away from the one person he always thought he would be running to? Maybe he needed to start from the beginning …

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Naruto and Sasuke basically grew up together, both were orphaned at a very young age and while Sasuke found support in an older brother, Naruto found the same in an elementary school teacher who had always taken a special interest in him. Sasuke knew that he was very lucky to have such a light in Naruto when his parents died. They were like night and day both in appearance and personality. Naruto with his tan skin, blonde hair, blue eyes and sunny personality and Sasuke with his pale skin, black hair, dark grey eyes and sour disposition.

They were always fighting, arguing, insulting; but they were inseparable. As they grew older they found another connection in their love for music, listening to it, singing it and writing it. The two of them competed in everything, sports, video games, just about anything that they could turn into a competition. But the most important thing that they were rivals in was writing. Writing allowed them to express their feelings about the hardships in their lives without actually having to vocalize it. The two boys would drive each other to write, entering and winning writing contests one not wanting to lose to the other.

Both Sasuke and Naruto found themselves gyrating towards the musical side of writing. Naruto himself was writing all the time, focusing more on poetry than fictional stories as he had in the past. Sasuke started taking piano and guitar lessons around that time and found a new love in writing music, making up his own melodies, chords, riffs, even lyrics, though they never seemed to fit quite the way he wanted them to.

Neither knowing what the other was up to because although they told each other everything they didn't share this. Both were afraid of what the other might say, both were afraid of losing what they thought was the one thing that held them together; their writing.

Naruto tapped his pen against his lips in thought. He had been attempting to write music to the lyrics he had written earlier that day, but nothing felt right. He was actually alone; during their free period Sasuke said he had to go to the library and study. Without him. Naruto didn't know what to make of that and this wasn't the first time Sasuke had blown him off to go off and 'study.' He had been feeling for a while now that Sasuke was pulling away from him, avoiding him, keeping secrets from him, but he couldn't confront Sasuke about his secrets without revealing his own.

Naruto looked down at his lyric journal in disgust, was this really worth losing Sasuke over? What was he really afraid of? Sasuke wouldn't be mad at Naruto for finding something that he loved to do. With that assurance in mind, Naruto decided to go to the library and tell Sasuke the truth; maybe then things could go back to the way they were before. Naruto stood, journal in hand and started walking to the library.

Naruto passed a couple of empty classrooms along the way, but he wasn't really paying attention until he saw familiar spiked black hair and stopped in his tracks. What was Sasuke doing not in the library where he said he would be? Angry at being lied to, Naruto moved to throw open the door and that's when he heard it. Music, but not just any music. It was a song that Naruto had never heard before, and that was unusual because Naruto had heard a lot of music. But that wasn't what was surprising – what was surprising was that the music was coming from Sasuke. When did Sasuke start playing his own music? Hell when did he learn to play the piano at all? Was this why Sasuke was being so distant with him?

Naruto quietly opened the door and softly walked up behind Sasuke. Now that he was actually in the room he could hear the song much better and it was beautiful. It actually reminded him off the song he wrote earlier when he was thinking about how this situation with Sasuke made him feel. Naruto looked down at the journal still in his hand, opened it up to the last entry and started to sing...

Maybe if my heart stops
beating it won't hurt this much
And never will I have to
answer again to anyone

Sasuke almost stopped playing when he heard Naruto start singing along to his music. He had been so frustrated minutes before because he couldn't come up with any lyrics to go with the song he had composed. Any other person would have stopped playing, but not Sasuke. Sasuke wanted to hear what else Naruto had. If what he had just heard was any indication, the lyrics and Naruto's voice were good; real good.

Please don't get me wrong
because I'll never let this go,
but I can't find the words to tell you
I don't wanna be alone,
but now I feel like I don't know you

Sasuke listened to Naruto belt out the chorus and he couldn't help but wince at the pain he heard in Naruto's voice. Was this song about them?

One day you'll get sick of saying
that everything's alright
and by then I'm sure I'll be
pretending just like I am tonight

It felt like Naruto was revealing every thought and feeling that Sasuke had about him in the past few weeks.

Please don't get me wrong
because I'll never let this go,
but I can't find the words to tell you
I don't wanna be alone,
but now I feel like I don't know you

Sasuke continued to play, both the music and Naruto's voice rising in crescendo. Naruto knew that his words, true as they were, were hurting Sasuke, but it felt good to get them out.

Let this go,
let this go

Naruto let the sound of the piano fill the room as he prepared to sing the last bit of the song.

I'll never let this go,
but I can't find the words to tell you
I don't wanna be alone,
but now I feel like I don't know you

And I'll never let this go,
but I can't find the words to tell you
that now I feel like I don't know you

Sasuke let his hands come to a rest on the piano keys as the last line of the song reverberated around in his head. He didn't want to turn around to face Naruto. Face what their secrets had done to their relationship in such a short span of time. Naruto, not one for quiet broke the silence.

"Teme?"

"Hn?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you knew how to play the piano or write music?" Naruto asked a bit of hurt in his voice.

"Why didn't you tell me that you could sing or write lyrics?" Sasuke softly countered. Naruto sat down beside Sasuke on the piano bench while trying to form an answer.

"I was afraid-"

"Afraid of what?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Hey! Why am I the only one being grilled here? You have some explaining to do too!" Naruto argued back with a pout. Sasuke almost smiled at Naruto's reply but Sasuke being Sasuke he smirked instead.

"I was afraid that you would be upset because I didn't want to write stories anymore." Sasuke truthfully answered staring Naruto in the eye. Naruto looked away with a small frown and a light blush.

"I was afraid of that too, but you don't care that I don't want to write stories anymore, are you?" Naruto rushed on before Sasuke could answer him, "Promise me that we won't keep secrets from each other, no matter how much we think they will hurt."

"Hn. I will miss beating you all the time though." Sasuke said with a straight face, wishing to snap Naruto out of his serious mood. He didn't have long to wait for Naruto to rise to his bait.

"You, beat me? Did you hit your head on the piano or something? I can still beat you at anything, teme, you just name the time and the place!"

"Dobe . . ."

Not soon after that they decided to form a band in their junior year of high school out of their love for music and because they knew that they were a great team when it came to writing music. For a long time things were good, great even. Naruto got two of their really good friends, Kiba and Shikamaru to join them on drums and bass respectively. Both of them also singing backing vocals when necessary. Naruto and Sasuke shared the role of lead singer depending on whose voice suited the song better, Sasuke also taking on the role of lead guitarist.

The close relationship that Sasuke and Naruto shared could seem exclusive at times – especially when they were writing, but Kiba and Shikamaru, who had known the boys for many years, were used to it. They knew when to leave them alone and when to separate them when their bickering would get out of hand. Kiba, being very close to Naruto in personality, would usually drag Naruto off to the arcade or for some ramen if he was hungry, which was pretty much all the time. Shikamaru, not one for much activity, could get Sasuke to join him for some cloud watching.

Finding a place to practice was never an issue as Sasuke was very wealthy because of the companies that his family owned and his brother now was CEO of. Itachi noticing Sasuke's interest in music had quietly built him and the band a studio to practice in.

Naruto was a constant visitor to the Uchiha residence. Hell, he even had his own room, decorated in orange of course, to suit his loud tastes. He tended to spend most of his time in Sasuke's room bugging him to death but there were times when they thought that no one was around, things were quiet, too quiet.

Itachi came home to one such moment, a totally quiet house. Afraid that Sasuke and Naruto had finally killed each other, he went to investigate. Quietly walking to Sasuke's room and pushing the door open a little he peered inside and was surprised by what he saw.

Sasuke and Naruto were sitting at the piano; Sasuke was softly noodling on the piano, his shoulders relaxed, content even. Naruto was leaning against his right side using Sasuke's arm as a pillow as the soft music had made him doze off.

They were both still breathing, there was no blood, there seemed to be no broken bones and most surprising of all there was no yelling of dobe or teme, no insults, nothing. Itachi was surprised to say the least, he waited a few minutes to see if Sasuke would shake Naruto off and start teasing/insulting him – for falling asleep and/or drooling on him but it never happened. Itachi could see that Sasuke was actually playing with his left hand so he wouldn't disturb Naruto's slumber with his playing.

This was the first time that Itachi knew for sure that there was something more than friendship between Sasuke and Naruto; how sweet. He quickly pulled out his camera phone and took a few pictures. He smirked as he quietly pulled the door closed and walked away, this would be great blackmail material in the future.