From Your Eyes to Mine, a naruto fanfic

I always used to watch you.

Can you blame me?

Every move you make is poetry.

Every word you say is cool, clean autumn air in my lungs.

Every glance is delivered, from your eyes to mine, like a secret, a silent love letter.

Every moment that I'm with you keeps my little, withered heart beating.

You're sleeping as strands of golden silk pour out of your head and sew themselves into the patterns on my blankets.

I tell myself that I'm losing it, that I need to calm down.

I search your cheeks for color and try to remember how all of this started.

There was a surprise attack, an ambush of some sort. I can't recall the appearance of our opponents. I don't remember coming here, to my apartment, at all. But I remember you. I remember watching your every move as I, the child prodigy, the heir to the Uchiha clan, stood by, helpless, absolutely paralyzed with fear.

You were brash and selfless back there, like you've always been.

I watch your unusually still body, and cannot suppress the sharp chill that slithers down my spine.

Shikamaru tried too hard, panicked and choked on the responsibility he never wanted. Choji was too noble, too kind. Ino and Sakura were useless, completely blind. Brainless, hormonal pigs as always-and that's all they'll ever be.

You were brash and selfless back there, like always. When I watched you, when I stood by and watched as you were forced to make the most important decision of your life, I felt like we were kids again. At the academy again, I pictured a big group of kids in the middle, and to one side, there would be me, scowling and alone. And to the other side, there would be you, smiling. Alone just like I was, even more alone-but always smiling.

You were brash and selfless back there. And all I did was watch you, stand by and watch as you made the hardest decision of your life-smiling all the while.

One last glance. A secret. A silent love letter, delivered from your eyes to mine.

You were willing to sacrifice everything, to take everyone's burden onto your shoulders with a smile, with no regrets.

And in that brash, selfless moment, a thousand words are said, years of lost time made up for. And then I am alone again.

Your name lingers on my lips, cold and mocking. I whisper it to myself, over and over again; to my ears, each syllable is like the slow, deep drag of a thin, sharp razor.

Naruto.

I won't take my eyes off of you. I swear to God, you moved, just now, I saw you…I saw you move.

And now my little, withered heart is just barely beating. Just barely.