So, I'm insane and I needed a place to drop all the stories that don't fit in my other collections.
This is completely and unshamed OOC, for Sasuke at least. Naruto is a cutie, so he's fine in here. This chapter is something I write a long time ago and happens after their fight and all those things. I really, really think that they need some sort of closure. I hope you like it. I just want to hold them tight and never let them go. Poor babies!
Naruto growls and rolls in his bed, putting a pillow in his head. That's insane! He came home just a couple of hours ago, too exhausted to move and collapsed in his bed.
This new-found peace is driving everyone crazy. They don't have rogue ninjas or evil master minds to find, but they have piles and piles of paperwork to tackle, gruesome diplomatic meetings and all sorts of councils and they must guard the Dameyos and the Kages when they come and go and, and, and…
He's more exhausted than when he tried to master his jutsus. Kakashi keeps dragging him from meeting to meeting, asking him to pick some scroll or to walk some diplomate home.
His old sensei says that he trusts him, but it's impossible to keep up with everything, even for him and is never-ending energy.
So, he came home, took a shower and fell in his bed, just a couple of hours ago. He was dreaming about buckets of ramen, when a knock on his window woke him up.
He tried his best to ignore it, but it was impossible. He growled again and walked to the window, ready to bite someone's head off. And he knows who is the only person who would wake him up at such indecent hour…
"Kakashi-sensei, what the hell?" He screamed open the window wide open.
"Hmmmm…. Wrong person, dobe…"
"Hun, Sasuke-teme?" He looks out of the window, seeing his old teammate crouched on the rooftop. "What are you doing here? It's… It's… What time is it?"
"3 a.m…"
"3 a.m.? What a hell are you doing on my window at this ungodly hour?" Naruto screams even louder.
"Need to talk to you…"
"And you couldn't wait until morning?"
"Hmmm… Okay, I'll wait." He starts to turn around, when a hand caught his arm.
"Wait… I'm already awake… What do you want?"
"May I come in, usuratonkachi? It's cold out here…"
"Hey, hey… You come into my house in the middle of the night, woke me up and now you insult me, teme? What the hell?"
"May I come in, Naruto?"
The soft tone in his voice makes the other man stop his complains and look at the brunette for the first time, since he opened the window. Sasuke isn't wearing his usual clothes, he is in black sweatpants and a tshirt, his sandals lose in his feets. He looks dishevelled and has dark circles under his eyes. He doesn't seem fine.
"Yeah, sure. Come on!"
Naruto leads him to his bed, turning the light on. In the yellowish light, Sasuke looks even worst. His pale skin looks sickly and feverish, sweat coating his forehead, his eyes dull and casting downward.
"Sit!" The blonde points to his bed, shoving his blankets away.
"Hmmm… You'll never learn how to sleep properly…"
"I'm not the one wandering around in the middle of the night. I was sleeping just fine, just a couple of minutes ago…"
"Hugging a pillow…" Sasuke smirks.
"Shut up, teme!" Naruto blushes. "Say what you need from me and let me go back to sleep…"
"Hmm… Just… Just checking up on you, usuratonkachi…"
"Hun? Checking up on me? At 3 a.m.? Cut the bullshit!" Naruto jumps from the bed and in front of his friend. "What do you want?"
Sasuke is quiet for a moment, staring at him. Something in his eyes unsettles his old teammate. He knows him better than anyone alive. It's not usual for him to seek someone in the middle of the night, looking like this. Something happened…
He kneels in front of the other man and looks him straight in the eyes. "Sasuke… What happened? You're scaring me… Are you thinking about running away again?"
The older guy gives him a short laugh. "No, I'm not running away, not right now at least…"
"Don't joke with that… I can't deal with that again!" Naruto is always so loud, so honest, so simple…
He shakes his head. "Relax, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon… And if I'll go… I'll come back… I told you that…"
"So, what's the problem… And don't say you're fine, you look like crap!"
"Thanks, dobe…" He sighs. "I don't know if you'll understand…"
"So, explain to me. I'm not that dumb, you know?" Naruto feels exasperated, it's too late for this… or too soon? He doesn't even know…
"You could fool me…"
"Sasuke-teme…" His voice cames in a low, warning tone.
"Okay, fine… But even if you understand, you'll laugh…"
"Try me…" He stands up and crosses his arms.
"I… I…" He hesitates. "I had a nightmare, that's it. Go ahead and laugh." He blurts out.
"You are the worst at telling jokes. Not funny at all." He sits back in the bed. "About what?"
"Hmmm?"
"The nightmare. What it was about?"
"The massacre…"
"Outch… I'm sorry, Sasuke… That's awful…" His voice is genuinely caring and concerned.
"I'm used to it. I used to have nightmares about it almost every night… It's better now… Since… Since I came back…" He looks down, looking uncomfortable.
"I'm glad to hear that…" Naruto puts a hand in his shoulder. "It's okay. We all have them. They just play a different scene for each person. Kakashi-sensei dreams about his old teammates, Sakura dreams about the war, I dream about Ero-senin and the war and… you…"
"Me? That's creepy, teme… Don't be a pervert…"
"Not like that…" He hits the other man's arm. "I dream that you run away again… Or that I killed you and somehow survived…"
"That's what you said you'll do, right?"
"No, I said that I would die with you, not kill you AND survived!" Naruto shakes the thought away. "It's not the same… I couldn't stand… You know…"
"Yeah…" They sit in silence for a moment. "It was different this time…"
"The nightmare?"
"Yes… It wasn't about my family…"
"So, what it was about? You said it was about the… that day…"
"Yeah… Kind of… But it wasn't about nii-chan doing…that…"
"Sasuke, spill it up! You need to talk, you'll feel better…"
"It's stupid... Forget about it."
Sasuke tries to leave again, only to be stopped. "It's okay. You can talk to me. I won't laugh… Or tell anyone. Come on…"
"It was about you… All of you. I killed you! One by one! I stabbed Kakashi in the back with a sword. And all the others. One by one until the sword broke in someone's ribs. And then I send Chidori right through Sakura's heart! And then, I… I…"
He can't finish the sentence, heavy breaths escaping his lips, close to hyperventilation. His body is shaking from head to toe, his fist clenched, grabbing his pants.
Naruto never had seen his teammate like that, usually he is the stoic, controlled one. Right now, he looks more like a frightened child than a cold-hearted killer.
"Sasuke, look at me, it's fine, everything is fine. You didn't do nothing of that, they are all alive and well, sleeping in their beds. You didn't kill any of them, you couldn't. Do you want to go and check up on them? I can go…"
"I killed you! I killed you with my own hands!" Sasuke turns and grabs the fabric of the other man's short. "I felt your blood in my hand, I felt you heart stopping… I… I… Killed you…"
He drops his head, shaking like leaf. Naruto is shocked. Sasuke is… Is he crying?
The blond freezes for a moment, completely stunned, before doing the only thing he can do right now: holding his old teammate, his best friend in his arms, hugging him close to his chest.
Sasuke struggles for a moment, fighting the arms encircling him.
"Shush, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm right here, alive and kicking. Just relax. Breathe. Take deep, long breaths. I'm right here. You are safe, you are back home. Just relax. You can cry all that you want. We can talk later, it's fine. Everything is fine."
Sasuke is too shaken up to fight him. He's too tired, too lost, too sick of all the fighting and the blood and the dead bodies. He's lost. He lost everything and everyone that he ever cared about.
Except for his old teammates. They never gave up on him, they never stop trying to save him. To save him from himself.
He's too exhausted to think. So, he does as he's told. He breaths in and out, synchronizing his breathing with the rise and fall of the chest so close to him. He concentrates in those steady breathes, that strong heartbeat. For the first time in years, he lays his head on someone's shoulder, too tired to keep it straight and grasps the fabric of the shirt between his fingers.
"I'm so tired…" He manages to whisper.
"I know… I know… It's fine. Just relax and you can lie down and get some rest…"
"I… I… I'm okay… I guess" Sasuke pulls away, looking down, ashamed of his behaviour.
"You're not. But it's fine, you'll be. Just lie down and rest."
"In here?"
"Yes, in here. I'm not letting you wonder around like that, you're mess. Get in the bed, I'll come right back."
Naruto walks in the bathroom, as a confused Sasuke lays is head in the pillow, his feet still on the floor.
"I told you to get in the bed. All the way. Not just half of you." Naruto gives him a wet washcloth. "Here, clean your face." He winks and picks his legs, gently putting them in the bed and pulling the blankets up and around him.
"Thanks, Naruto…" Sasuke whispers.
"Shh, not mention it. Nothing happened here tonight."
"No, I'm serious, thank you. You were…"
"Your best friend, like always." Naruto jumps and lays on top of the bed covers.
"You'll sleep in here?" He gets a nod as an answer. "On top of the covers? You'll freeze!"
"I have another blanket in here and I don't need all those covers. I'm hot by nature!" He flashes a smile.
"Usuratonkachi…" Sasuke turns away from him. "When… When did you got so good at this… thing?"
"What thing? Comforting people?" Naruto snorts a laugh. "Lots of things happened in the last years… I just… grew up. I guess… We all comforted and got comforted by someone at some point… We learned what to do…"
"Hmmm… Thanks again…"
"Stop with that… It's fine, nothing happened. Go to sleep. I really, really need to sleep."
For the first night in years, Sasuke closes his eyes and fells a sleep feeling completely safe. For the first night in years, he wasn't plagued by nightmares and woke up in a cold sweat.
In the next morning, they woke up and didn't talk about the night before. Naruto walked him to the door and waved him goodbye.
He almost didn't hear his friend saying "My window is always unlocked… Just for you to know…"
They never talked about that night. Neither about the others that follow it…