"He's…not coming back." Those four words, spoken hesitantly with worry for his feelings and reaction, had caused his whole world to tilt and tumble into an abyss of uncertainty and denial. She had to be lying. There was no possible way that what she had said could be the truth.
"You're lying." She looked shocked. What did he mean "lying"? Her eyes watered.
"I'm not lying, Sasuke-kun. He's not coming back." He glared as coldly as he could at the girl before him.
"Shut the fuck up. He's not gone. So just keep your mouth shut." Then he turned and started to walk away. Though the aspect of confronting a pissed off Sasuke was daunting, Sakura knew she couldn't let him leave as he was now. It was too likely that he'd do something not-so-intelligent in this state of mind. She ran towards him, her mind still only half decided.
"But Sasuke-kun! It's true! The whole team came back, except him. They all said they saw him take that blow. They saw him die! Sasuke-kun! He's not coming back!" By the end her voice had risen considerably. So much so, she was actually yelling at him, something she would have never dreamed of doing when they were younger. When he was still around. But right now she was too grief-stricken and too worried about Sasuke to care.
But for all her worry, Sasuke just glared at her more icily than before. He didn't say anything. No, to reply would mean that what she had just said held something of importance and that he realized it. He turned and continued walking, pushing her aside with a simple shoulder shove.
Sakura was starting to get nervous now. Before she was only worried he'd runoff in as blind a rage as a shinobi could get. Now, she was nervous because it looked like he was completely denying it. But she knew he would eventually see the truth and by then he could probably be well enough in his mind to think clearly about his reaction. The aspect was actually scaring her.
"Sas…"she tried again.
Only to be cut off by Sasuke. He twisted his entire body so that he could face her eye to eye. He did it so fast he almost tripped. His glare was sub arctic. "Don't you dare speak like that ever again! He is coming back. There is no way something as simple as a hand through his chest would stop Naruto from coming home!" I should know. I did as much to him before. But Sakura didn't know that. The two of them had decided on not telling their female teammate was the best choice of their options. It had been Naruto's idea. He hadn't wanted to worry Sakura with the "stupid details", as he had called them.
The thoughts of his now missing teammate made Sasuke more depressed, but also much angrier. How dare those missing-nin keep Naruto from coming home! Without looking, the Uchiha swung his tightly closed fist at the wall on his left. Sakura jumped as the foundation of the building shook. She stifled a small gasp when blood trickled down between his fist and the brown wall. She was really beginning to worry. Sasuke never lost control in public. He just didn't.
Sasuke glanced back to his teammate for barely a second before jumping away and out of sight. It took only a second for Sakura to break out of her daze from Sasuke's impulsiveness, but that second was long enough for Sasuke to be well out of her range of detection, especially since he was masking his chakra. Sakura scowled, now knowing that Sasuke had "lost control" on purpose in order to give himself a chance to escape her. Well she was going to make sure his planning failed him.
It wasn't very much longer that a raven-haired man with eyes the color of jet settled down into a special cove within the forest. He had stumbled across it a few of years ago, when they were only eighteen. He had been coming there ever since when ever life became too hectic and he was in need of space, or even when he felt like relaxing on the rare day he didn't train.
This cove was more of an untouched sphere of tranquility hidden within the forest near Konoha actually. It was pretty far from the regularly tramped through forest and almost no one ever walked by. Trees and shrubs kept him from being noticed by any of the infrequent passer-bys. The only one he had shared his secret with had been Naruto, and only because the dobe had followed him here by scent. Sasuke smiled sadly at the memory of Naruto's fit when he realized Sasuke had kept some place so beautiful from him. He had refused to speak to his roommate for nearly an hour before Sasuke had promised to get him ramen. And not just any ramen, but home-cooked ramen. Naruto had admitted to having a weak spot in his heart and stomach for Sasuke's ramen.
More and more memories passed though Sasuke's grief-stricken mind, the shinobi becoming more saddened as each one was replaced by another. Soon, the calm quiet forest was filled with the cries of a heart broken soul.
Sasuke's whole body heaved from each sob that escaped his throat. His shoulders shook from the strain of trying to hold back the worst of his tears. However, it soon became too much for the young man and he succumbed to his heart's desire to call out to express his feeling of loss.
Hours crawled as Sasuke continued to sob in the forest, one of the only times he had let tears of grief fall from his eyes since when his clan had been assassinated. He eventually fell silent as he fell into a restless sleep.
Through out all of this, Sakura had searched everywhere that she could think of in order to find Sasuke. So far, she had had no luck, even after six hours. She wound up enlisting her friends to help in the search, but it was no help. Now, only Lee was still helping her. The others had claimed that if Sasuke could stay hidden this long without any trace of him being found, than he obviously didn't want to be found. Lee had only stayed to make sure she didn't wind up exhausted in some out of the way area where no one would find her for at least a day.
"Please Sakura-chan! You need to rest. You've been awake for nearly six days because of you last mission and now you're looking for Sasuke-kun! You must rest your heavenly body and your wonderful mind before you can be of any help to your teammate!"
The argument had been going on for the last couple hours. Sakura had stubbornly persistent in her search, but now her body was making a show of its needs clearly. She could barely keep her eyes open and she hadn't stopped to eat a substantial meal in the last two days. Right now, it was sorely tempting to give up and go home.
Sakura turned to see her boyfriend looking at her with something akin to puppy dog eyes. She sighed, knowing Lee could get pretty pathetic after a while if she didn't heed his warnings. She nodded, causing him to jump with joy. He lifted her into his arms and began to carry her home, Sakura yelling at him to put her down because she wasn't incapacitated just tired.
Sasuke woke to warm sunlight hitting his sore eyelids. He moved his hands to massage them, only to find tears still falling down his face. He had continued to cry in his sleep. He wasn't surprised that he had slept in his sanctuary. He and Naruto would often come here, at least once every couple weeks if they weren't out on missions, and stay up late into the early morning just talking or sitting together enjoying the other's company. Usually the two of them would end up falling asleep without realizing it. They actually kept a change of clothes so that they could just start their daily training schedules without fuss.
When Sasuke walked to the empty alcove in a neighboring tree, he looked inside for a spare pair of his red and black pants and white training shirt. However, a new wave of salty tears overcame him as he saw the black and orange set of clothes that were Naruto's.
This time, however, he didn't let his grief overtake him. He resolutely grabbed his clothes and turned to face away from the distracting clothing.
Once he changed from his old outfit to the cleaner one, Sasuke began his warm up. Though his body was used to sleeping on hard surfaces and in strange positions, his body was stiff from last night's sleep. It wasn't until he had finished and had begun to actually start his real training that he noticed he wasn't alone in the clearing.
Off to the side, a little ways behind where his warm up had caused him to stop, something was hiding in the bushes. He was pretty sure that whatever it was, it wasn't human, but he couldn't be sure.
He casually looked around him, seemingly just to take in the sights of early morning. Whatever it was hadn't moved. Then he stretched nonchalantly before chakra inducing his legs to sprint over to the bushes. What he found was a small orange fox.
It was smaller than average, probably a runt from a larger than normal litter. One of its ears flopped humorously over its right eye, allowing only its left bright sparkling blue eye to be seen. As Sasuke held it by the scruff of the neck, it neither tried to fight nor run away. Instead it seemed to hang its head in shame of being caught.
Sasuke couldn't put his finger on it, which annoyed him, but something about the fox didn't feel right to him. It wasn't moving around in his hands. And its expression showed too much happiness and mischievousness. Though it was clearly a fox, it was also very human.
Moments of relative silence passed. Sasuke only continued to look at the fox, but it soon started to squirm in him grip. It twisted just enough to nip Sasuke's hand. Though it didn't really hurt and there was no blood drawn, Sasuke's grip on the animal loosened and it dropped to the ground. Once it landed on its feet Sasuke was prepared to chase after the strange creature, but he had no need to be.
Instead of running off as the Uchiha thought it would, the fox started to yip excitedly while prancing around the ninja and pouncing his feet. Sasuke's eyebrow ticked in aggravation. Just what the hell did this crazed fur ball think it was doing?
"Stop being an idiot Naruto! Calm down!" Sasuke's eyes widened at the words that had left his mouth. He hadn't even thought about them beforehand. The fox had just annoyed him and his mind had recalled what he said ninety-nine percent of the time when he grew irritated.
Without thought Sasuke's eyes clouded with tears once again.
Meanwhile, the fox had stopped moving mid-jump and had tumbled to the ground in an ungraceful heap. It huffed in anger and turned to Sasuke with a glint in its eyes. But its whole body just seemed to deflate when he saw tears flowing from the brunette's jet eyes. It presided to whine, its ears drooping more than before.
Sasuke looked down through sad, clouded eyes. He smiled shakily at the fox. "I didn't mean to yell at you, little one. But you reminded me of a dear friend of mine." The fox tilted its head to the side in confusion. Sasuke let his tears fall. "But he's gone now. He left and he won't return to me." Sasuke fell to his knees once again in despair over his fallen friend.
The fox's nose twitched in sorrow as its tail fell along with its ears. It cautiously tiptoed towards the crying man. Once he was close enough to touch him, the little fox nudged the human's elbow with his nose. Sasuke moved his hands away from his face. It was then that the something he hadn't been able to put his finger on earlier clicked in his mind. He reached out towards the fox. It rubbed its head on his callused hand eagerly.
"Who are you little one? Are you really just a fox?" Said fox's ears twitched. "Or are you something else?" The fox stopped moving his head against Sasuke's hand and looked up, something intelligent twinkling in its eyes. Suddenly, Sasuke heard someone speak.
"Well, it took you long enough you ass! I've been trying to contact you for, like, ever! I didn't think it would take you this long to figure it out." Sasuke's head snapped up.
"Naruto?" His voice was filled with anguish, like his very heart had drowned and all that was left of it was a broken voice.
"Down here! Now quit wasting time, cuz I only have a little while here." Sasuke looked down to see the fox 'grinning' at him.
"Naruto?" whispered the brunette. His eyes suddenly filled with the inner fire of rage and brought a fist down onto the fox's head. "What the fuck do you think you were doing?! When did you become suicidal, dobe?! Because I think I missed the memo!" Naruto raised a paw to gingerly touch his head. He glared at his teammate. "That's animal abuse, ya know! There's laws about this sort a thing!" Sasuke glared right back.
"And-I-don't-give-a-SHIT!" Sasuke heaved through clenched teeth. "You are so selfish Naruto! Never thinking about anyone but yourself! Did you even think about how I would feel if you died? Don't answer that! I already know the answer. You didn't! You just wanted the glory of dieing for the village, didn't you!" Naruto glared at Sasuke.
"Shut up you bastard! I'll have you know that I did think of all ya guys before I died! And you want to know who I thought of the most? What was last on my mind right before the last of my life force drained away with my blood? Well guess what! It was you ya petty bastard!"
Sasuke stared at the ranting fox. More tears gathered in his eyes. Unable to control himself, Sasuke threw back his head and laughed. And damn, it felt good to do so. The fox snarled.
"And what are you laughing at?" Sasuke shook his head slightly before answering among his chuckles.
"You, Naruto. You're dead and you're still arguing with me over your feelings for me." Naruto sulked.
"Shut up."
The two sat in silence for a minute, staring off into space, before Sasuke turned back to Naruto, the previous grin replace with a darker then usual frown. Naruto's shoulders sagged with the knowledge of what Sasuke would ask him.
"Why did you do it Naruto?" Sasuke was happy that Naruto waited a bit before answering him. It meant he was actually thinking about the reply seriously.
"I wanted to. When I took command and told the rest of the team to go, I knew it was going to happen. But," he struggled to find the words that would adequately explain his actions to the one he had left behind, "I don't think I would have been able to live anyway, if I hadn't helped the others when I knew I had the ability to." He sighed. "I know that that isn't much of a reason to have died Sasuke, but I'm pretty sure it's the only one I can think of at the moment." He kept his gaze locked in front of him as he brought his knees up to his chest. That is, until he heard Sasuke giggling. Giggling!
"Why are you laughing you bastard!?" Sasuke started to laugh harder.
"Because you're complaining about not having a better reason to die than to save the lives of your teammates!" Naruto huffed incredulously.
"I am NOT!" Sasuke stared with an eyebrow raised toward him.
"Really? Because that is what I hear." Naruto glared.
"I'm upset over not having a better excuse for LEAVING YOU!!" It was Sasuke's turn to stare incredulously. Not to mention look very surprised when Naruto shifted from fox to man as his anger grew.
"Don't tell me you think I'm more important than four other people's lives?" When Naruto didn't answer him, Sasuke sighed exasperatedly. "You're such an idiot, dobe." He reached over to tug on the flopping fox ear. "Don't ever feel anything but pride in the fact you gave your life to save those who you held dear. Never." The last word was said with such vigorous passion that Naruto couldn't help but look up at his old teammate.
"But," he was interrupted by a shake of the head from Sasuke.
"Never." Blue eyes shone the relief of knowing his choice was right. Naruto grinned.
"You're right Sasuke." He snorted.
"I'm always right." Naruto snorted.
"Whatever you say." The tension in the air dissipated as the two bickered back and forth good-naturedly. Time flew by as the two did nothing but talk and listen to the other – doing absolutely nothing but laze about happily. Soon enough, the sky darkened and the stars glistened in the darkness – there was no moon.
Eventually, Sasuke began to yawn more and more frequently. Naruto noticed with a growing sense of dread. He had procrastinated enough, he decided. It was time to tell Sasuke what he needed to hear.
After the brunette yawned hard enough to crack his jaw Naruto sighed and looked at the sky while leaning back on his hands. Sasuke had lain down next to him to rest his head on his shoulder a while ago. "Hey, Sasuke?"
"Yeah?" he asked drowsily.
"The whole reason I'm here is because Kyuubi did this weird thingamajig by sacrificing part of his soul to give me time to stay with you for a night."
"A night?" Sasuke asked, more awake now that he was confused.
"Yeah. When you wake up tomorrow I won't be living anymore – not that I'll be gone though! You can't get rid of me that easily!" Sasuke smiled weakly at Naruto's fail attempt at humor. "Anyway, I really just wanted to tell you that I can say I love you, Sasuke. And I would be happy if you were willing to let me go. I don't want to be your next reason to be an avenger. I want you to grow old and gray until you're an old fart like the Third used to be. And remember that I'll always be by your side no matter what. And if you wouldn't mind telling Konohamaru that I didn't die because of him, I'd appreciate it. He's pretty torn up about it."
Sasuke stayed silent for a while, not really sure how to take this. Finally, he grinned. "I can do that. But only for you. Because I love you too." Naruto grinned at him, happy his last wishes would be granted. Of course, Sasuke now wanted to stay awake as long as possible, but he eventually fell asleep. Naruto looked at the one who owned his heart and smiled sadly.
Another voice permeated the glade and Naruto hung his head. It was time for him to go. He knew that, he just didn't want to go. "Kit, it's time for us to go. We've already stayed our welcome." Naruto nodded gloomily. He slowly stood to lay Sasuke slowly on the ground from where he had previously been laying in his lap. He kneeled down quietly and slowly kissed the last Uchiha's forehead in farewell. Sasuke smiled slightly in his sleep. "Kit…" Naruto sighed.
"I know, Kyuubi. I'm coming." With that, he walked out of the small enclosure of paradise.
Sasuke woke to warm sunlight hitting his sore eyelids. He rubbed them as he woke and gazed around to see he was in his sanctuary. He looked around to see if what had transpired was all a dream, but couldn't find any evidence that disproved the theory. His shoulders slumped.
But then the wind seemed to pick up and wrap around him and lightly caressed his cheek. Sasuke grinned in remembrance. Maybe last night had been more than a dream.
"Sasuke…you do know that he's…not coming back." Sasuke turned to Sakura and smiled gently. She could see the unshed tears forming in his eyes.
"Yes. I know." He turned back to stair out at the sunset, watching as the colors shifted from blue to red to violet to blue again. It had taken everyone another day to find that Sasuke was sitting atop the Hokage Monument as Naruto always had. It had been Konohamaru that had found out. When the man his niisan had loved appeared near him, he had thought he was going to be killed. But Sasuke had walked up to him, head down with his hair shadowing his face, until they were standing right in front of the other.
Konohamaru had nearly died from a heart attack when Sasuke lifted his head and was smiling. When all he said was "Naruto says hi Konohamaru", he thought he had lost his mind in grief. So, as any good citizen would, he scrambled backwards as fast as he could to find someone who could help – preferably Sakura-san with her scary strength.
"Then why are you smiling?!" Sasuke's smile widened as a small tear fell to the ground.
"Because he wanted me to." Sakura had no response for that.