"I thought you knew."
Naruto swallowed around the lump in his throat, avoiding the searching eyes of one of his oldest friend. He instead casted his gaze down to where his right arm used to be. The artificial arm that had been his companion for nearly a decade now had to be removed when previously unknown side effects began to make itself known.
It started as an ache around where it was connected to the stump but Naruto had dismissed it as nothing, well used to small aches and soreness of his body ever since he became the Hokage and was stuck behind the desk doing paperwork that never seemed to decline in number no matter how many clones he had produced to help him with it.
But the ache soon turned into dull throbs all over the right side of his body. It wasn't enough for Naruto to think much about it, only occasionally complaining to Kurama for not doing his job of healing his body as rent payment. Those complains usually lead to long moments of bantering between them, light and teasing as they bitched toward each other.
Naruto had thought he was sleeping at the table too much instead of going back home to a proper bed. He had thought it was simply his aging spine protesting about the uncomfortable position he slept in.
He never thought it was the sign of his body slowly deteriorating, collapsing in on itself faster than even Kurama could repair it.
Hell, it was only Kurama's presence that helped slowed it down long enough for him to live as long as he did because according to the lab result of the test both Sakura and Tsunade had run themselves, he should have died years ago without Kurama to decelerate it.
Yet at the same time, it was also Kurama's presence within him that caused for it even bud in the first place.
It was a fact that Naruto refused to linger on because he would rather this happen a million time over instead of living a life without the constant company of Kurama within him. Kurama had become a dear friend of his, a confidant to every aspect of his life and not to mention, an irreplaceable part of him.
Naruto was aware that he should have died when Kurama had first been removed from him during the war regardless of his Uzumaki heritage. The only reason he continued on living long enough to witness the peace he had fought for was thanks to Kurama being resealed into him.
He owed his life to Kurama.
Even if he doesn't know his days had been numbered.
And if the stubborn old fox refused to accept the fact that it was not his fault Naruto was dying, well there was a reason why the Uzumaki and Naruto by a large margin, was known for their stubbornness.
He will force it on the Tailed Beast until it finally breached his thick skull. He continues to tell the old fox this each time the topic of extracting Kurama from him was brought up.
It was not Kurama's fault that the Hashirama's cell that made up the artificial arm had negated the very gene that made him an Uzumaki and how Kurama's own chakra had allowed for it to take root within Naruto's body.
It was not anyone's fault.
Only his luck finally running out.
Now one of his old friend had finally returned to the village after spending the long years travelling the continent in search of himself.
And Naruto doesn't know how to face him.
He had promised that he would change the Shinobi world for the better, so that no children should have to witness the death of their family, so that the next generation only know peace and not the bloodbath and strife his generation and the generation before him had lived in.
Yet his own body was betraying him, stopping him from fulfilling that one promise he had vowed to achieve no matter what.
Naruto was aware that he would not live long enough to fulfil it and it pained him to break the single vow he had ever made that mattered so much.
So when faced by an equally aged Sasuke who sat by his bedside, Naruto can only avert his eyes in shame.
"Naruto." Hearing his name being uttered so softly sent his stomach fluttering but Naruto refused to meet the eyes of the last Uchiha.
He doesn't want to see the disappointment in it.
Because he doesn't doubt it would be the final blow needed to finally do him in.
A sigh reached his ears and he flinched in surprise when calloused hand held his own remaining one with tender care.
He was surprised by it because it had been a long time anyone had touched him.
Other than the strict professionalism of the medic that watched over him, no one else had dared to touch him for fear of hurting his suddenly brittle skin.
But trust for it to be the Last Uchiha to be the only person who could touch him without hurting him. The irony of it was not lost to him but he welcomed the physical touch nonetheless.
He almost forgot how it felt after spending so long without it.
"I thought you knew." Naruto repeated as his eyes heat up.
He honestly thought Sasuke had known about the unknown illness that had ravaged Naruto's body. He thought someone else, Sakura, or even Kakashi-sensei himself would have at least informed the wandering hermit about his ailment.
He never expected for Sasuke to barge into his ward with accusation on his tongue and hurt in his eyes.
Sasuke had learnt about his sickness from some travelling merchant that just happened to come across him.
Naruto himself refused to tell Sasuke about it in the many letters exchanged between them. He doesn't want to lose the one normal thing he still have left in his life. He doesn't want for Sasuke to treat him any differently like everyone else now that he could barely sits up on his own.
"But why didn't you tell me?"
The pain lacing the soft voice sent a stab of guilt in his heart and Naruto could only close his eyes to stop the tears from falling.
Oh how much it had hurt him to see everyone he cared for grieve over him. He would rather he had died in some sort of battle like the first four Hokages than wasting away like this. He was already a dead man in his deathbed.
There was no hope for him anymore and it would have been a mercy to end him now than to witness his precious people grieving as if he was already lost to them.
"Because I don't want you to see me like this."
They were rivals.
They should have been equal to each other.
Naruto should have been able to match him in every way, not withering away and barely a shadow of his old self.
What kind of rival he would be if he could not even sit up with his own power to greet him?
The hand holding his tightened and Naruto hid the pain it caused him with practised ease. No need to burden Sasuke further with unnecessary guilt.
"Usuratonkachi." Naruto would have flinched away from Sasuke for the familiar insult if it haven't been said with such fondness that he doubted the black haired male meant it to hurt him.
"Duck-butt." He snarked back for old time's sake despite it already being a long time Sasuke had last sported that hairstyle.
If his voice was wavering when he said it, well Sasuke didn't comment on it and they both soon lulled back to silence. Even when it had been years since they had last been in each other's presence, the comfortable ease between them never went away.
Sasuke's hand felt warm tangled around his own and Naruto finally opened his eyes to take in the face he have been longing to see for so long.
There were already a couple of lines developing around his eyes, undoubtedly from the strain of his doujutsus but it was not quite as severe as Itachi's.
But the one that attracted his eyes the most were the lines around his lips.
Laugh lines.
Huh.
Who would have thought the ever stone faced Uchiha would develop some from laughing and smiling enough to make it appear.
But it looked good on him, highlighting his handsome feature all the more.
Naruto traced the face of his ex-teammate with his eyes, taking in his features with a thirst he never knew he had and committing it to memory.
The years away from Konoha had been kind to Sasuke.
The thought of it made his heart clench with bittersweet emotions.
Sasuke had found happiness outside of Konoha. He was able to find the laughs and smiles he had lost.
Gone were the heaviness of grief that used to weigh down on his shoulders and in its place was this strong and unyielding resolve that would tilt the world on its axis.
A small part of him felt sad that he wasn't able to be a part of it.
Little did he know that he was the reason behind all those laugh lines. Each time his letters arrived to Sasuke's hand, a smile would blossom on his face and over the years of frequent mail exchange, the smiles soon burrowed itself into his face in the form of laugh lines.
"You looks old." Naruto teased him, lips curled into a smile and was actually quite surprised when it was mirrored by the usually stone faced Uchiha.
Sure, he had expected for the occasional smirk that Sasuke often donned during their youth but he didn't expect the genuine smile that curved over his lips.
It looked breathtakingly beautiful and Naruto found it unfair how Sasuke was still able to make him feel flustered like the little kids they used to be.
Curse the Uchiha and their gorgeous features.
He was a Kage damn it!
The Hero of the Elemental Nation!
He shouldn't be so easily flustered by one small smile from his rival.
"Talk about yourself, old man."
Oh it's on!
"Are you sure you don't need to make some appointment with the spa? You looked like you needed it very much."
"I am pretty you're the one who needed it the most. Are you competing with the Kazekage for the biggest eye bags?"
"Excuse you, it looks good on me, unlike a certain someone I could name in this room."
"You mean yourself?"
And so they went off, throwing snarks and insult between them like old time. It caused for his heart to swell up with happiness and he felt buoyant with all the long forgotten childish giddiness in his veins.
Being around Sasuke always made him revert back to the knuckleheaded Genin he used to be once upon a time.
It felt freeing after so long of forcing it down under all the responsibilities and characteristics expected of an esteemed Kage.
But as much fun as it was to trade playful barbs with Sasuke, his own body was already pass its limit. The now familiar exhaustion weighed down on his mind and body, muddling the words on his tongue.
"It's good to have you back 'suke." His words were slurred, trailing off as he valiantly fought against his dropping eyelids.
He wished to stay awake.
He wished to talk the night away with the friend he hasn't seen for so long.
He wished to spend hours looking at Sasuke.
He wished to have more time with the person he have been in love with since what felt like forever.
He wished to spend the rest of his life with Sasuke until both of them are old prunes.
But wishes were just that, wishes.
They were not meant to be fulfilled and with his numbered days hanging over him, he knew it wouldn't come true.
He could already feel it in his bones, how brittle it had become and his slowly waning chakra that slipped back to the nature it came from.
He doesn't have much time left and he doesn't want for Sasuke to suffer more by giving him empty promises of what a future of them together could have been like.
Don't let this feelings of his bloom into something more.
Let it remain the little seedling he had kept hidden from the world.
Sasuke deserved much better than the empty promise of a dying man.
"I am home, Naru." The words were whispered against his palm, a secret between them and Naruto used what little energy he had left to caress his cheek.
"Welcome home." His own lips shaped a small smile that he hoped was able to convey just how happy he was to finally be able to hear the words coming from Sasuke.
Because it meant Sasuke was back for good.
He was back to stay in Konoha, with him.
And Naruto couldn't ask for any better.