Summary: This is a what if scenario. What if Naruto had managed to convince Sasuke to come back to Khonoha? And what if his feelings for Sasuke ran deeper then friendship, and his fear of rejection started to suffocate the brave Naruto that everyone thought they knew.
It's a Promise of a Lifetime
Chapter 1: At all Costs
It wasn't something that could be explained. He didn't want to think about it he didn't want to put into words what he was feeling. It would make it too real; it would make him too awkward, so awkward that it couldn't be hidden anymore, not from the people around him or himself.
Naruto had known that his rivalry with Sasuke was, no is something more than just that of a simple friendly rivalry. At first he had thought he just wanted Sasuke to notice, to acknowledge him as an equal. Because Sasuke was just like him, so he knew he wasn't alone, that with Sasuke there, it proved that he would never be completely alone, because there was someone like him out there.
When had he started to doubt that it was only rivalry? He wasn't sure, and he would not think on. It was it was too late to do anything any more. The path that awaited him and Sasuke was not that of romance but of loyal friendship. As they had fought in the Valley of the end Naruto had thought he had laid his feelings for Sasuke bear but it wasn't until he woke up to Sasuke's face that he realized what Sasuke meant to him, but by then it was too late. Denial, doubt and fear had settled, pushing it to the back of his mid where it would be hid and left to fester. Because to Naruto what they had managed to make then was too important to gamble.
Naruto would never really though on it, subconsciously he knew it would hurt to know. It would hurt too much to think of telling Sasuke, it would hurt. No, It would kill him to know that Sasuke would never- and he could never hope for anything more. There was no brave face to put up when you are fighting with some who knows you best, there was not fight thing with oneself. A battle even Naruto could not hope to win.
All he could do was keep his promise to Sakura then. It was all his mind would allow him so do; to lock away his heart and keep him sane. He would become stronger to protect the people who are important to him, and the person he knows he shouldn't love.
It was too late and there was no way to reach Sasuke anymore, even when he was so close. He hated himself for not admitting it. He hated that when he was so close he let his mind shut off. But there was no going back, and he would never understand the numb feeling in his heart.
As Naruto opened his eyes for the second time after the battle in the Valley of the End, he could see Sasuke's back as Kakashi carried Naruto on his. And a wide smile was allowed to grace his features as Naruto had the one thought his mind would allow. He had brought Sasuke back, at all cost.
A/N: If you want me to continue, leave a review.I just wrote it for the sake of writing it and have nothing big planed for it but I can come up with something.