TCD: I do not own Naruto
Whenever it rains... he's always been like that...
I haven't the slightest idea why...
He seems filled with boundless energy at first...
And then...
The first raindrop falls on his nose...
He blinks... then his eyes appear to change...
Gone were the sparkles of happiness and life...
Instead... he now looks like a lifeless being...
All the pleasure and contentment snatched from his fingers...
I find him on top of the roof...
Staring blankly at the sky...
I approach him... I call out his name... trying to call him back into reality...
Nothing...
I place my hand on top of his...
He turns his head to stare at me...
Such lifeless eyes begin to scare me... I try to pull away...
But, I catch a glimpse of happiness in his eyes... and decide to hang about...
He speaks to me a moment later...
"Thank you, Sasuke..." he manages to mumble
I give him a puzzled look...
"For being there for me when I really need you..."
I later realized that the blonde had been crying...
His face was wet with rain... so the tears were imperceptible...
But his eyes...azure blue eyes that used to flaunt confidence and energy... were red and swollen...
I ask him in a hushed voice—hushed because a feared I might startle him away—why he was crying...
"It's because... I remember... those agonizing days..."
What days?
"Those days... where the people... still looked at me...with fear in their eyes. Those days when... the people refused to acknowledge... me as a ... person..."
I felt a deep, shooting pain somewhere in my heart...
It was a different pain. It seemed indescribable...
Is this the pain he had been enduring all along? Wearing his happy, energetic mask, was this what he was hiding behind all along?
Sitting there, I understood...
What it meant to have friends...
Friends who can support you... regardless of how difficult the road seemed up ahead...
Sitting there, I also understood...
Why Naruto never left my side...
Like an unwanted tail... wagging behind its master...
He only wanted someone to be there for him...
Sitting there, I also realized...
Only I can be there for him...
For now...
TCD: I wouldn't mind if you review this or not... but... just review anyways...