A/N: Okay, hey everyone! So, this is my second FanFiction ever, so I'm really excited! I don't know why I really even wrote this, I think I got the idea from the song it's following? Maybe? I don't know!
Warning: It's a pretty depressing SasuNaru (or NaruSasu, I still haven't decided which) BREAKUP fic! Don't read if you don't want to! This is also the unedited version! I'll probably put up the edited version sometime in the (not near) future, so please feel free to point out any mistakes!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own anything Naruto related except my fanfic's plots (and some pins I got at anime cons! XD)! I also DO NOT own any rights of or the song, "I Don't Wanna Cry," performed by Mariah Carey!
Okay, so anything is "quotes" is speech, anything in italics is thoughts, and anything in bold italics are words to the song!
So, people, ENJOY!!!
I Don't Wanna Cry
-Naruto's POV-
Once again we sit in silence
After all is said and done
Only emptiness inside us
Baby, look what we've become
Naruto looked around the silent Uchiha mansion, trying to calm the fear that was churning in his stomach. I have to do this, he told himself. It's really for the best! He nodded to himself before continuing up the stairs to the room that he and Sasuke shared.
"Sasuke-teme! You there?" Naruto called out, praying that his voice didn't convey anything. He did not want Sasuke to be expecting this.
"What, dobe?" Sasuke's voice called back, full of languid tranquility. Naruto figured that Sasuke had probably worked through the night again, and had only gotten his sleep schedule completely messed up. It was now about nine-thirty in the evening, and Naruto hoped to finish everything before ten.
"Hey, teme!" Naruto started. Those were his comfort words, he knew. He always said them when he was about to do something the other person wouldn't appreciate.
As Naruto walked into the room, he saw Sasuke staring at him with his eyebrow quirked. Apparently Sasuke knew of his habit too. Well, so much for surprising him, Naruto mumbled in his thoughts.
"Okay, so I know you're not going to like this, Sasuke."
Naruto knew he had Sasuke's full attention when he'd said the older boy's first name without adding some sort of insult to it. Sasuke seemed to want to hear Naruto out, even if he knew that he wasn't going to like what he was hearing.
"I…I don't know how to say this, Sasuke, but…" Naruto trailed off, still staring the boy full in the face. He needed Sasuke to understand him, but he didn't know how to say it.
An awkward silence issued for a few moments while Naruto thought. He was extremely glad that Sasuke wasn't like a lot of other people who kept pushing him for information every time he was quiet. They all thought it was unnatural. Sasuke wasn't like that. Naruto knew that Sasuke thought that everyone, even Naruto, needed time to think quietly, and he was more than willing to let them have it. And he knew Naruto like no one else did.
So, why am I doing this, again? Oh, yeah, that's right…
"Sasuke, I want you to understand this. I know you know that I love you, I really do!" Naruto tried again, after getting his jumbled thoughts in order.
Sasuke nodded, non-verbally telling him to continue. The only change was that Sasuke's face had paled slightly.
Well, putting it off won't make it any easier. I might as well get this done and over with.
"I want to end our relationship, Sasuke…" Naruto hesitated, trying to judge Sasuke's reaction from his stone cold face. It was to no avail, however, since the raven-haired boy's face had reverted back to being politely blank. "I – I don't think we should go out anymore."
There was another short silence, this more intense than the last. Finally, Sasuke decided to break it.
"Why?" His voice didn't shake or tremble. It wasn't full of tears and sadness, either. Instead, it was even and controlled; the tone perfectly neutral. It was as if Sasuke wasn't affected at all.
However, that one word spoke volumes to Naruto. He had become so accustomed to Sasuke that he just knew what the other was thinking.
"I – I can't do this anymore, Sasuke! We're just not the same anymore! We used to be so much more, but now…it's like everything's died out!"
Neither said anything for a while after that.
We can make a million promises
But we still won't change
It isn't right to stay together
When we only bring each other pain
Naruto had been staring anywhere but at Sasuke, knowing he would not like what he would see in the other's face. Instead, his eyes registered many different things in the room.
There was the window, where both of them had once fallen out of after engaging in one of their sparring sessions. He remembered rushing Sasuke to the hospital, bridal style, because of his broken arm, even though Sasuke insisted that he was alright. It turned out Sasuke had been right.
He saw the numerous paintings on the wall that both he and Sasuke had painted of each other. It was obvious who had drawn what. Sasuke was terrible at anything related remotely to the fine arts. Naruto, however, who'd had a lot of practice from his prank-calling days, when he'd paint the Hokage's faces on the mountain, had done an excellent job of his sketches and watercolor pieces of Sasuke.
He saw the flower vase on Sasuke's bedside table that he'd forced the other to put there. Back then, he'd said that Sasuke's room, that, at the time, had been completely full of dark blue everything, needed some color. So, every day, Naruto had brought in a flower to put in the vase. He'd even made sure that the flowers had enough water to survive for a while. After a while, Naruto had found out that Sasuke liked daffodils, forget-me-nots, gardenias, and red roses. He'd asked Sasuke why but the older boy had just smirked at him, saying it had something to do with their meanings.
Finally, Naruto looked back at Sasuke.
What he saw made him shiver.
Sasuke's previously passive eyes were now filled with conflict and uncertainty. Though, on the surface, his guard was still up, Naruto could see inner-Sasuke wondering what the hell Naruto was talking about. However, he also saw the part of Sasuke that understood his logic.
"But…But we promised, Naruto! You promised me that – that you'd never leave…" Sasuke seemed at a loss of what to say. His voice had trembled only slightly, and his mask was still up, but Naruto knew better.
"Yes, I know, Sasuke, and I'm sorry. I really am. But you know exactly what I'm talking about when I say that we aren't good for each other anymore. We just don't fit like we used to, Sasuke."
Naruto hoped his whisper carried the truth in his voice across to Sasuke. After all, their relationship had started to deteriorate a while ago.
Suddenly, as Naruto watched, all expression disappeared from Sasuke's face. It became so blank that not even Naruto could read it.
"Okay, Naruto, I see what you're saying, and I have to say I can understand why you think this is for the best. I don't necessarily agree with it, but it's as much your choice as it is mine. Very well, from now on, we're not dating, is that right?" Sasuke's candid tone surprised Naruto, but he nodded. It was what he wanted after all. "Okay, Naruto…if that's what you really want, then it's okay with me…"
Naruto stared at Sasuke, searching for the look in his eyes that would shout "Of course it's not okay, dobe! What the hell do you think you're doing?" but he didn't find it.
"…" Naruto turned around and hesitated, not sure what to say. "Bye, then, Sasuke…" was what he finally settled for, even though it didn't sound quite right.
Naruto walked away swiftly, eager to disappear.
I don't wanna cry
Don't wanna cry
Nothing in the world
Could take us back
To where we used to be
Though I've given you my heart and soul
I must find a way of letting go
'Cause baby, I don't wanna cry
Naruto was almost running by the time he'd made it to the doors of the Uchiha mansion. He stood there for a while, numbly replaying what he'd just done.
So. I've finally broken up with Sasuke, huh?
After that, as he kept staring, Naruto's thoughts were incoherent and he did not try to change that. It wasn't until he heard a slight coughing behind him that Naruto actually snapped back to reality. He turned around to see who was there.
Sasuke stood a respectful ways away from Naruto, as he would around someone whom he'd just met, Naruto noticed. He knew he'd have to get used to the distance between them
"Yeah, I was just about to leave." Naruto clarified, even though he knew he didn't need to. He just wanted to lessen the edgy air that was between them with some conversation.
Sasuke walked up to him and opened the door for him. There was nothing about him that did not scream politeness and Naruto half-expected him to say "Have a nice evening!"
"Thanks, Sasuke." Naruto murmured, barely loud enough for the other boy to hear, and walked past him without looking up. Once he was at the gates to the mansion, Naruto thought to look back, wondering if Sasuke had closed the door yet.
What he saw made him flinch, and wish he hadn't.
Sasuke was holding on to the doorknob with the tips of his fingers, as if he didn't want to let go, but he didn't have the energy to keep clinging. He was sitting down on the floor of the doorway, his knees bent in a peculiar way, as if he'd just collapsed on the floor. His skin looked unhealthily pale. His hair seemed to surround his face, covering everything but his eyes, like a shield.
But that wasn't what scared Naruto.
What scared Naruto was the fact that when he looked into Sasuke's eyes, he didn't even see guarded blankness. They weren't even showing the soul of a broken person. No, they were completely empty, as if he had no soul left to be broken. They were completely lifeless.
Naruto shut his eyes tightly closed and ran, letting the Kyuubi's chakra give him power. He needed to be as far away from there as he could possibly be. It felt to him as if someone had just died.
When he'd finally made it back to his house, Naruto had headed straight for his bed. However, no matter how much he'd have liked to, and how much he tried, sleep refused to claim him. Instead, he was left brooding in the middle of the night.
Since Naruto didn't brood often, he didn't know what to do. He didn't feel like crying, but he didn't feel like destroying anything either. He felt like moving and sitting still at the exact same time.
All across his mind, the events of the past few hours replayed themselves, especially when he'd left Sasuke at his doorway. He just couldn't get the haunting face out of his head.
Naruto didn't know how long he'd been awake, but he knew that at some point during his sleepless night, it had started raining heavily outside. He'd left his windows open, but he didn't bother to shut them. He figured he could clean up the mess the rain would leave the next morning.
Naruto felt as if he'd had a very exhausting day and needed sleep that would not come.
Too far apart to bridge the distance
But something keeps us hanging on and on
Pretending not to know the difference
Denying what we had is gone
"Hey, Sasuke-kun! Naruto!"
A higher voice greeted Naruto an early morning a week after the incident. He looked up, still groggy from not getting enough sleep the past few nights, though God knew what he did while he was awake.
"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned back at his pink-haired best friend. He'd used to have a crush on her when they had been younger, but that had been a few years ago. Now that they were all finally eighteen, he and Sakura had a mutual understanding to be best friends. He helped Sakura out the numerous times that she asked him, and she was priceless when he felt down.
"Where's Kakashi-sensei, Naruto?" She asked after giving him a hug. He'd used to refuse her hugs before, but had learned to accept them as part of being her friend.
"That pervert's probably going to be late again, and come up with some lame excuse. Again." He smiled at her and they both nodded to each other. Then, they ran off in opposite directions.
Naruto went around and created the traps that he had gotten so used to making at a moment's notice, though most were just simple pranks he'd learned during his D-rank missions. He was in charge of the right of the training field, and Sakura was in charge was of the left side. He'd spent a long time teaching Sakura exactly how to create them, but Sakura, bless her, had learned them quicker than he had.
When everything was ready, he and Sakura ran back to their meeting place, careful not to set off any of the traps themselves. They grinned cockily at each other again, positive that their previous sensei would not know what they'd done. Then, they proceeded to fill their boredom by random chatter that only best friends knew how to have.
The whole time, though Naruto was looking at Sakura, he watched Sasuke from the corner of his eyes. He watched how the older teen stood leaning against one of the poles that Naruto had once been tied to. He watched how Sasuke's eyes were closed, and the slight purplish bruises that had appeared underneath his eyes. If Naruto hadn't known any better, he would've thought that Sasuke had been punching himself. He knew it was really because of lack of sleep.
When Kakashi finally decided to show up, he infuriated both Naruto and Sakura with his excuse.
"Sorry for being late, you guys!" He held up both hands in peace. "It took me a while to get here because someone had set a lot of traps that would set off if a ninja wasn't being aware and careful of his surroundings. I had to make sure to destroy the traps so no one else will get hurt by them either!"
"Damn you, Kakashi-sensei!" Both Naruto and Sakura simultaneously muttered under their breath. They'd worked hard on those traps!
"Anyway, we're here for a basic mission that Tsunade-sama wants us to do. Since it doesn't require us to go anywhere, we'll just sit in a circle here." Kakashi continued.
The three newly-jounin ninja all walked over to Kakashi and sat down at the same time as he did, each curious.
Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed how Sasuke had pulled his carefully constructed guard back up again, pretending to be annoyed with their lame "assignment," as Kakashi called it. A fake smile was playing on the sides of Sasuke's mouth.
-Kakashi's POV-
Every moment we're together
It's just breaking me down
I know we swore it was forever
But it hurts too much to stay around
"Okay, you guys! We're going to have a little reunion picnic today!" Kakashi exclaimed. "And before you leave, realize that these are Hokage-sama's direct orders."
As soon as he'd added the second part, all three ninja's had sat back down, knowing what the Hokage was like when she got angry, and none of them wanted to face her. Sasuke followed the other two reluctantly, acting as he always did, Kakashi noticed.
"We have to talk about what's been going on in our lives recently, and share our feelings with each other. I know that you all have something that you're dying to tell me so that I can fix it at the drop of a hat, so start talking kids!" Kakashi finished off with a huge smile behind his mask and his eyes turned to upside-down "U's."
Naruto groaned, Sakura looked irate, and Sasuke just looked like moping old Sasuke.
"So, who wants to start?" Naruto asked, his hand immediately moving to scratch the back of his head.
"Naruto…" Sakura's voice gave ample warning about what she was likely to do to him if he kept talking.
Another short awkward silence ensued, and all four people just stared at each other. Naruto carefully avoided Sasuke's eyes, and Sasuke returned the favor. Sakura didn't indicate that she noticed, but Kakashi watched the two of them carefully from then on.
"How about we start with introductions, huh? Like the old times!" Kakashi suddenly exclaimed.
"What? Why do we have to do that stupid thing again?" Sakura immediately replied, her eyes flashing. She had matured into a mature woman, but her tolerance for most people had also decreased.
"Well, it seemed to work relatively well back then! So, I'll start! I'm Hatake Kakashi! Things I like and things I hate…I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future? Never really thought about it. As for hobbies…I have lots of hobbies."
"That's the exact same thing you said when we first met!" Naruto yelled back at Kakashi, sounding like a thirteen year old again.
"Okay, your turn. You on the right. You first."
Naruto started. It was apparent he hadn't realized that they'd settled in the exact same way they had when they'd first met. That's why he had settled next to Sasuke.
"Believe it! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like instant ramen in a cup and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei got me at the Ichiraku Noodle Shop! But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup! My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them! And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody! Somebody important!"
Naruto grinned at Kakashi, who immediately recognized that that was what the boy had said five years ago. It was amazing how he'd remembered all of that.
"Alright. Next." Kakashi continued in a monotone voice.
"I'm Haruno Sakura! What I like…uh…I mean the person I like…mhmm…" It seemed as if Sakura had caught onto Naruto's and Kakashi's hints and had decided to play along. The whole time she kept glancing at Sasuke like she used in when she was younger, even though everyone knew that she didn't like him as anything more than a brother anymore. "Uh…My hobby is…uh…mm…hmm…" Sakura started giggling lightly, and created a faint blush to appear on her cheeks, which Kakashi knew was a fake. "My dream for the future is…" She ended her speech by squealing like she had before. Naruto started laughing, also amazed at Sakura's accuracy.
"And? What do you hate?" Kakashi asked, already knowing the answer.
"Naruto!" She immediately exclaimed. Then, the two burst out laughing, Naruto on his back, and Sakura hunched over. Kakashi allowed himself a small smile before removing it from his face. He was curious to see what Sasuke would say, since Itachi was already dead. He wondered whether Sasuke would even follow the code the three of them had been following.
Probably not, he thought. Besides. Maybe I'll find out what's wrong if he unconsciously hints towards it. I guess we'll see.
"Last one," Kakashi simply said after the two had finished their general bout of laughter.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and destroy a certain someone."
When Sasuke finished, silence took over, except for the birds. Kakashi knew he'd said the exact same thing, and so did Sakura and Naruto. But Kakashi wondered who the someone was that Sasuke now wanted to destroy. He looked at the other two for clues, since Sasuke had been staring at him the whole time, and Kakashi knew that Sasuke could have already killed him if he wanted to. Sakura looked just as confused as Kakashi felt, but she also looked worried. She glanced over at Naruto with fear in her eyes before looking away. Naruto seemed to have the strangest reaction of all. He, instead of even looking at Sasuke, was staring at the ground as if he'd found the meaning of life in it. Though his blonde locks covered most of his face, Kakashi could still see parts of his cerulean blue eyes which were filled with sadness, apology, anger, and…was that regret?
Kakashi checked again just to make sure, and sure enough, he could see it.
Hm…Well that's interesting. So Sasuke wants to destroy Naruto because of something that he did. I wonder: what was that severe? And Sakura seems to know something.
"Very well. That's good. How about we 'bond' with a little bit of sparring first?"
-Naruto's POV-
I don't wanna cry
Don't wanna cry
Nothing in the world
Could take us back
To where we used to be
Though I've given you my heart and soul
I must find a way of letting go
'Cause baby, I don't wanna cry
"Naruto, you and Sasuke can spar for the moment. Your challenge in to make the other's elbows touch the ground without touching them at all. No genjustu is allowed, nor is any ninjutsu that physically touches both you and your opponent at the same time. Other than that, have fun!" Kakashi told them, while waving them goodbye.
Naruto immediately knew that that meant that they had to use weapons, since taijutsu wouldn't really work either. But sparring was something that he and Sasuke did regularly. That was one of their best forms of communication.
So when they started, Naruto, who'd cast aside his personal feelings for Sasuke for the duration of the spar, wasn't expecting Sasuke to actually follow up on what he'd said earlier.
Naruto groaned when he noticed that Sasuke had decided to not follow any of the rules set down by Kakashi. Instead, he immediately started off with a chidori aimed at Naruto's legs. Naruto hadn't been prepared, yet he was still a jounin. He managed to avoid the attack and tried to get Sasuke from behind, but wasn't fast enough as Sasuke had run close and struck many vital points through elementary taijutsu. Naruto held back the pain he felt with a bit of will power and disappeared from the battlefield into the trees. He carefully hid his chakra signature and watched Sasuke, while making sure to stay perfectly still.
Naruto could see Sasuke look around, his senses alert for any signs of movement. Naruto knew that he probably had the exact same awareness of the situation as Sasuke did, since adrenaline hadn't entered their systems yet. They'd been ninja's for so long, it took a while for their bodies to figure out what was danger and what wasn't.
Suddenly, Naruto noticed Sasuke smirk.
Crap! He immediately thought, and moved. However, he was seconds too late, because Sasuke had already pierced a scorching hot chidori through the side of his left arm. Naruto grimaced in pain and found the adrenaline quickly coursing throughout his body, slightly numbing the effects of his partly torn arm. He wasn't too worried about it because he knew it would heal. What he was worried about was the fact that Sasuke was standing above him, his eyes still the same lifeless orbs they'd been a week ago, with a full blast Kirin pointed at Naruto's heart.
"Sa – Sasuke! What do you think you're doing? You can't actually mean to kill me…can you?" Naruto asked, his voice full of disbelief. Sasuke wouldn't do that…would he? After taking a second look at Sasuke's eyes, Naruto realized that, indeed, Sasuke would.
"Wait! Sasuke!" Naruto didn't look up, in case he needed to make a quick getaway if Sasuke decided to attack while he thought Naruto was distracted. They were both staring at each other when Sakura appeared in front of Sasuke and Kakashi appeared behind him. His sword was quickly discarded of, though how, Naruto wasn't able to see. Sakura was blocking most of his view.
"No, Sasuke-kun!" she said. "You mustn't! You know you're going to regret killing Naruto. And if you're going to kill him, you'll have to kill me too."
Naruto cursed Sakura for knowing what was going on. He didn't want her to get hurt too!
When Sasuke didn't respond, Kakashi's voice entered their ears, sounding steely and dangerous.
"I strongly suggest that you drop your chakra, Sasuke, and give up on this reckless fight," he whispered.
All the magic's gone
There's just a shadow of a memory
Something just went wrong
We can't go on make believing
On make believing
Kakashi had forced both Naruto and Sasuke to go back to their houses, and do something with themselves. Sasuke had immediately started heading back towards his mansion. Naruto, however, stood there for a while and debated with himself. Eventually, he decided to follow after Sasuke.
Neither of them said anything to each other while they were walking. But, Naruto figured that Sasuke might as well not have been next to him. His presence was non-existent, sending multiple pangs of guilt down Naruto's spine. He knew he'd been the one to do this to Sasuke.
He'd used to love Sasuke. He didn't know how it had happened, but it had, and at the time, it'd felt right to just follow their instincts. When Naruto had kissed Sasuke for a second time, and not by accident, he'd started their relationship. They didn't ever officially go on dates or anything, but they were closer than close, and everyone had approved. The two had been going out for over two years before Naruto had broken up with Sasuke.
Sasuke, for his part, had never once told Naruto that he even liked him, a fact that Naruto had noticed several times. However, Naruto knew that Sasuke wouldn't just play around with a person's feelings, his especially. Sasuke had, instead, shown Naruto how much he cared through small, almost unnoticed, actions and quickly endeared the blonde to him even more.
Naruto had promised Sasuke that he'd never leave him, that he truly loved him, that he wouldn't die until Sasuke did, so they could be together after death as well. Sasuke, surprised by Naruto's declaration, had been very skeptical at first. However, Naruto could make anyone open up and believe in him, and that had applied to Sasuke as well.
Naruto recalled Sasuke once telling him, "I believe in you, Naruto. I'll put my faith in you like I haven't done since Itachi's actions. Don't let me down." Naruto had smiled brightly at the boy and promised that he wouldn't.
They'd truly been the couple in love for as long as they'd been dating.
However, something had changed. Something had changed between them, and the change had been in Naruto.
They finally arrived at Sasuke's mansion and both walked in and up to Sasuke's room. It was the one they used mainly for long talks and fights.
As Naruto walked in, he saw the closet where they'd both had been locked in once. It had been an accident on their part, because they'd both been tricked into going into the closet by Sakura, who'd locked the door afterwards. They'd both heard Ino and Sakura laughing like maniacs after Sakura's success. Then, the two females had told them to make up (since they'd been having a fight at the moment), and go back to being normal. Little did the two girls know that things would never be the same again. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke had actually done anything that night, but they'd talked to make the hours pass by. Of course, Naruto had initiated the conversation.
Naruto smiled grimly as he remembered that incident. He'd liked the feeling of falling asleep next to Sasuke for the first time, though that was before he'd started loving him.
The two boys turned to face each other once they were sure the doors and windows were locked.
Naruto, as was usual, was glaring at Sasuke, though his eyes held confusion and an apology that Sasuke wouldn't accept.
I don't wanna cry
Don't wanna cry
Nothing in the world
Could take us back
To where we used to be
"Sasuke…" Naruto mumbled, loud enough for said boy to hear. He didn't reply.
His gaze, Naruto noticed, was still inert, yet it seemed to have more intensity now. It seemed as if the hate and anger had started to manifest itself by then. Naruto realized that Sasuke was going back to being the avenger he used to be.
Please! No, Sasuke, don't! I'm not worth all this trouble! Naruto anxiously thought to himself. He did not want to see Sasuke as he'd been when he'd come back from killing his brother. He knew that Sasuke cared about him enough that he'd become like that. After all, Naruto had been the first person to get through to Sasuke, to make Sasuke love him and accept him as family, since his family had been murdered. Naruto knew Sasuke'd never forgive Naruto's crime, but he hoped the boy would at least try.
Doesn't he know what the pursuit of revenge does to him? Hasn't he already seen what he's done?
"Get ready to fight for your life, Naruto." Sasuke calmly whispered, though it was so silent, Naruto heard his voice loud and clear. Naruto nodded his head in resignation and did as he was told. If he had to prove to Sasuke that what he was saying was right, he would be more than happy to do so. He knew they were both almost equal in skill as jounin, yet neither knew who was actually better. This fight would be the best way to test their strength.
Neither started off with their most powerful attacks first, since those consumed a lot of chakra. Naruto tried to go easy on Sasuke, still feeling guilty about what he'd done, and because Sasuke already had a part of his chakra depleted. However, he soon realized that was a mistake. Sasuke had meant every word he'd said about this being a fight to the death, and every move of this delivered on his promise.
At first, because Naruto had tried to go easy on the boy, Naruto fought to catch up with Sasuke's constant attacks that were aimed towards him. Soon after though, Naruto had leveled the field of play and they'd been pretty even for a long while.
Naruto didn't know how much time had passed since he and Sasuke had started exchanging hostile touches. It wasn't long before they were both severely bruised with multiple cuts and gashes on their arms, legs and faces.
Both of them had been fighting due to an adrenaline rush Naruto knew, but as their bruises multiplied, their strength and stamina decreased. It wasn't long before Naruto's wide punches missed their mark by more than a few centimeters, and Sasuke's sweeping kicks starting hitting the wrong targets.
That was when they transitioned into the use of chakra. Neither was too worried about the state of the house at the moment. Sasuke immediately started off with his Fireball Technique, and Naruto with his Shadow Clones. They faced off each other trying to hold the other back.
While his Shadow Clones were busy, Naruto started working on the one jutsu he knew would win him the match, his best technique, the RasenShuriken.
When all of the Shadow Clones had disappeared, Naruto attacked. Surprisingly, his attack met Sasuke's Kirin, and both fought against each other. It lasted a moment before both techniques tangled and demolished everything around them.
In the end, two lifeless bodies collapsed onto the floor in defeat.
Though I've given you my heart and soul
I must find a way of letting go
Naruto felt himself floating, but he wasn't sure on what. He tried to feel around yet when he moved his hands all they felt was air. He tried to roll over and get out but couldn't. He could move freely. It was just that there was absolutely nothing solid around him for him stabilize himself on. He was just floating.
As Naruto opened his eyes, and saw the darkness around him, an idea came to his mind. He moved his foot forward.
Suddenly, everything came into perspective. He could stand and see, and walk, and move. However, he was still just floating on nothingness. He was simply there.
Because there wasn't anything there, there wasn't any direction either. So Naruto walked the way he was facing, which he assumed to be forward.
Where am I? He questioned himself. Why am I here? Am I supposed to be looking for something?
Naruto had the uncomfortable feeling that he was forgetting something very important when he saw his first source of light. It was just a bright light from somewhere far away, like a star, but Naruto ran towards it anyway. He might just find something there, he guessed.
By the time he reached the star, it had gotten a lot bigger. Now, it stood taller than him, and was wide enough for him to walk through. So he did.
Everything rushed back into Naruto's head as the light touched his body, causing a massive headache. It took him a while to sort out every memory that he encountered that he'd forgotten while he'd been at the center of the nothingness.
Everything now made sense to him.
One of the clearest memories in his mind was of the fight he'd just had. There was a boy there, he noticed, but he just couldn't name him. So he just skipped over him, and moved on the next few memories. And again, he found the boy, in every single one of the clear ones, whether they were good memories or bad memories.
Naruto kept skimming through his memories that had just returned and soon found the foreign but familiar boy's presence a comfort as he waded through the painful memories. He'd already figured out that the boy was pretty important. He'd been the one to provide the pain, the sadness, the anger, the happiness, the challenges, the companionship, and…Naruto wondered for a while what that feeling was that was flowing steadily through his body as he thought of the boy, before he understood.
The boy had provided all the love as well.
But who is he? Naruto asked himself again. Why don't I remember his name?
As Naruto thought about the boy, he opened his eyes that he'd unknowingly closed while moving into the light. He realized he was still surrounded by darkness but now he could see something more. He walked towards it, and raised his hand to touch it in curiosity. It looked like a mirror, he vaguely registered before his thoughts focused on what he saw there.
It wasn't his own image that he saw, as Naruto would have expected.
Instead, it was that very special boy from his memories. He was standing there staring at Naruto with wonder and elation in his eyes.
"Naruto…" The name echoed around the room before Naruto replied with his rather late epiphany.
"Sasuke…"
And everything disappeared, even Naruto himself, as he found himself thinking.
Why, Sasuke, why? I still loved you…
'Cause baby, I don't wanna cry.
A/N: So? What did you think? Is there anything you liked? Anything you hated? Anything you think I can improve on? Just review, and please let me know!
Also, if there's anything that you're confused about, you can also ask me to clarify about that!
Oh, yeah! One more thing! For the introductions in Kakashi's Section, I used the words used in the English Dub (no matter how much they suck compared to the Japanese version).
Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the story!