Not a Scratch
Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
Author's Note: I just got struck with inspiration when I was rereading the battle at the Valley of the End, one of my favorite fights in the entire series. And I watched The Fifth Element with my brother. That movie is hilarious. Seriously, watch it.
-~-~-~-~
"I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned."-Affirmation (Savage Garden)
-~-~-~-~
You won't be able to put a scratch on my forehead.
Sasuke hadn't been lying when he'd said that if two shinobi were strong enough, they could read each other's thoughts. Naruto had been able to understand the meaning behind that easily. Yes, Sasuke thought he was strong. He'd been afraid of that strength, had felt the deep waters that he'd been swimming in his entire life begin to rise to an uncomfortable level.
Naruto hadn't been able to sense that, had still only seen the gap between them. Sasuke looked at Naruto across the deceivingly still waters. Even as Sasuke watched, he could see a change in the blonde. Just seconds before, he'd been a desperate friend, not wanting to truly believe what he was seeing. No longer. In the long minute that stretched between them, Sasuke watched Naruto grow up.
The blonde stood a little straighter, he held his head high in defiance and even with the soft upturning of his lips that meant he understood, there was still a sadness to the smile. I'm sorry, the smile said. They both were.
Sasuke could still remember how Itachi looked at the inn that day. He'd been a little taller, a little more solemn, but the thing that always stood out was the slash directly across the Konoha symbol; the sign of a traitor. Sasuke couldn't allow himself to wear that sign, couldn't bear Naruto branding that sign into the familiar metal of his headband.
And so they fought.
And at the very last moment, Naruto, with the last of his strength, drew a claw across the Konoha leaf. To Sasuke, it felt like he was drawing the claw along his heart. In the blankness that surrounded them, Naruto, weariness and a question his eyes, asked for understanding. And Sasuke, the same drained look in his darker orbs, replied that, of course he could understand. Naruto was angry, frustrated and had needed to warn him that he was going to be branded as a traitor, not just by the scratch, but by the villagers. He might never be able to return to the village.
But as Sasuke forced his tired legs to stand over Naruto's prone body, he left the scratched headband with his precious person. It was a promise, one that no one else would be able to understand. Sasuke couldn't carry it with him, wouldn't carry it because he needed nothing to remind him of the times in Konoha. He knew Naruto wouldn't need a reminder either, but he wanted to make sure that Naruto understood that he would be back. After all, Sasuke lived for his memories.
-/-/-/-/
A/N: That didn't turn out anything like it was in my head. But I guess that's what happens when you don't have access to a computer for hours after you get the inspiration.