I never loved nobody fully,

always one foot on the ground.

And by protecting my heart truely,

I got lost,

in the sounds...

"I'm leaving."

Naruto paused in his rant and turned to look at Sasuke against the backdrop of rain outside, confusion muddling his features. "You're what?"

"Leaving, dobe. I'm leaving." Sasuke's face was level and composed, completely schooled into the casual, indifferent, slightly frustrated expression he always wore.

Naruto blinked, then relaxed a little, realization coming to him. "Oh, you mean a mission. Did we get a new one already from Granny Tsunade?" He asked, leaning on the doorframe to his apartment. Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and leaned on one foot before quietly shaking his head.

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, then-"

"We didn't get a mission, I did. Solo." He said in that slow, almost mocking tone he used when he thought Naruto wasn't 'getting it through his thick skull,' as he usually put it, and for a second Naruto thought to be offended before he focused in on the last word that lay suspended in the air.

"So…lo?" He asked. Sasuke on a solo mission? He couldn't. The elders said that an ex-convict couldn't be allowed outside of the village except on a team mission. Sasuke couldn't go outside more than a ten-mile radius of the village without another leaf shinobi with him.

Panic flared quickly, and Naruto felt his eyes widen before Sasuke waved a familiar looking sheet of paper in front of him.

"Mission. I'm not abandoning the village." 'Again' hung in the air and Naruto bit his lip. It still didn't seem right, and it was making him uneasy. He tried to gauge calculating black eyes, trying to figure out an ulterior motive.

"I'm coming with." He blurted out quickly and reached inside the door and grabbed his jacket from where it had been slung carelessly over a chair, coming back and making sure Sasuke hadn't left yet. But Sasuke just wore an amused expression on his face, head tipped to the side and his still dripping black bangs falling gently across his cheek and sticking to his skin as he watched Naruto stuff his arm in one of the orange and black sleeves.

"No you're not." He said quietly. It was something so assured, something not even in question that Naruto already knew he wouldn't be able to change Sasuke's mind. The panic began to escalate. This was too much like the first time. Too much like the Valley of the End. Sasuke couldn't leave. Not without him.

"I sure as hell am-" Sasuke's hand slammed into the doorframe beside Naruto's head and Naruto glared at Sasuke who was now boxing him in to his apartment, a feral-like growl tingling at the back of his throat. "Move."

"You're not coming with me. Solo mission."

"I am, and you can't stop me."

"You can't follow you or you'd be considered a rouge Nin."

"I can by lenience of Granny Tsunade, now let me the fuck through."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his lips tightening. Naruto saw his grip on the doorjamb tighten to a white-knuckled embrace, the wood creaking in protest, and Naruto grit his jaw, determined not to back down from the burning coal eyes.

"Why would you even come tell me if you didn't want me to come along with you?" Naruto asked. Sasuke wouldn't have told him unless he had wanted something first, and if accompaniment wasn't it, Naruto wasn't sure what he expected. What he didn't quite expect to see Sasuke's eyelids lower and his gaze shift from Naruto's blue eyes to just past his shoulder, almost as if ashamed.

"I just came to say goodbye." He said, plainly and simply, and Naruto wanted to pretend he didn't hear the nearly inaudible strain in Sasuke's voice.

"You make it sound like you won't come back again."

Silence.

"…You said you weren't abandoning the village."

"I'm not."

"THEN WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING GOODBYE?" Naruto couldn't stop the explosion that erupted from him, and he nearly jumped out of his own skin at the suddenness of it. Sasuke didn't seem phased, and he turned pitch black eyes back to Naruto.

"Because I'm not sure what's going to happen."

It was in a ninja's job description to show no emotion. It was expected that comrades would fall, missions would fail, teams would be torn apart by moles and double agents. It was nearly a given in many ways, but to hear Sasuke really acknowledge that chance was like being slammed into a brick wall. Sasuke, who was so good at everything, always one step ahead and prepared for anything that was thrown at him, was admitting his mortality in a way that Naruto wished he had never heard.

"Why won't you let me come?" Naruto said after a while. Sasuke gave a huff.

"Because it's and S-rank criminal, and someone only I can deal with." When Naruto opened his mouth, Sasuke sent him a glare. "Alone."

Naruto tapped his foot and measured Sasuke up and down, ignoring the muttered, "Don't hurt yourself, dobe," as he thought. Then he leaned forward, gripped the collar of Sasuke's mission cloak and jerked him forward. "You'd better not die." He growled, fingernails digging into the tawny fabric.

Sasuke blinked, their faces barely an inch apart. His breath whisked over Naruto's face, warm and strangely sharp, like mint. He gave a haughty smirk. "Don't worry, I'm not you." He quipped, but Naruto didn't smile.

"You have to come back alive, and when you do, I'm going to be waiting right here, and I'm going to whoop your ass." Naruto ground out, sky blue eyes trying to see past the inky depths and down into the bottomless pits of Sasuke's own eyes. Sasuke's face turned away from its arrogant smirk.

"Why do you even care that much?" It was said in an almost bitter way, and Naruto couldn't help but flinch, the fist that was keeping Sasuke near him dragged him down closer.

"Why won't you let me care?" He asked, his voice cracking slightly. Sasuke didn't say anything. "You have to come back, and you definitely can't lie. You can't throw your life away, and you can't just leave. Not anymore." Naruto paused like he was looking for something in Sasuke's pale, impassive face. "Promise." He ground out. When Sasuke didn't answer, Naruto shook him, growing angry again. "Promise!"

Sasuke's jaw flexed and Naruto felt an arm snake itself around his waist and he jerked, anger dissipating into surprise. "Sasuke, you-"

"I love you."

It was so quiet that Naruto didn't think he had heard it right. It could have been the rain that was beating outside of the overhang they were protected by, of the wind rattling the shaky window in Naruto's kitchen.

"Uh... I… I love you too? Sakura-chan too, and Sai, and Kakashi-sensei-"

"So there shouldn't be a problem." Sasuke pulled back slightly and Naruto felt himself being plunged into confusion once again. Sasuke was so close, his eyes were so black.

"What's that supposed to…" Naruto felt himself getting distracted. Sasuke just kept leaning closer and Naruto felt alarm bells begin to ring in the back of his head, something clicking into place but not surfacing in his mind. "Wai-"

Sasuke tasted like he smelled. Sharp and like mint. Not quite expected, but suitable for him in many ways that made Naruto want to curve into the hard shape of Sasuke's body. His lips were thin, if slightly chapped and a bit cold, and they were harsh in their punishment. Naruto's eyes were sliding shut on their own accord, and he was torn between keeping his eyes open and trying to take in every inch of Sasuke's face or letting them close and surrendering to the mind-numbing touch of their lips.

And then it just… ended. Sasuke's arm retracted, along with the smell of mint and the crushing mouth. There was a whispered 'Goodbye' and a whoosh accompanied by a few wisps of smoke, and then it was just Naruto, standing in the doorway, staring out at the rain and unable to do anything.

Naruto touched his bottom lip quietly, his mouth tingling. Had Sasuke just kissed him? He leaned against the door-hinges, not caring as the iron dug through his shirt and into his arm. His jacket had slid to the floor at some-point, lying abandoned in an orange and black mess. Everything seemed jumbled and slightly askew, and all Naruto could do was just stand, confused and alone, unable to move and unable to breath.

"... Fucking Bastard!"

... Don't kill me? *dodges thrown pan* Enjoy the SasuNaru! It's a gift/apology/tribute! *dodges thrown cat*

I am so so so so so sorry about the lack of updates on my part for everything I need to do... . I'm a bad person -.-' I promise I'll try and be more productive, I swear it, just please please forgive me and accept this sacrifice! *offers up SasuNaru short*

I'm sorry it's kind of depressing, but it won't be depressing when I'm done. I think it will be a three-shot, four at most, and two at least, but I'm just making sure you all know that I'm not just going to leave you hanging (like I have been with all my other stories.) XD Rating might also go up for a future lemon or lime of citrusy goodness...

Song: Fidelity - Regina Spektor

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and all that stuff... tada...