I'll be posting all my one-shots here from now on! They're mostly Shikanaru, but may come off as more of friendship than romantic in some of them. Depends on the mood I was in when I wrote it.

If you feel something comes off a bit ooc for the character let me know please! I'm pretty confident in my ability to write both Shikamaru and Naruto but not so much other characters in the Naruto universe.

This first oneshot is angsty, suffer the angst, SUFFER IT.

His breath came in heavy pants, eyes red, narrowed to slits and teeth elongated, more feral in appearance. Naruto snarled at the raven haired young man in front of him, his hands (covered in so so so much blood) clenching and unclenching.

Sasuke bled heavily from a deep gash up along his right side to under his armpit. His sword hand shook slightly from fatigue, chakra loss and blood loss.

A raspy, feral voice snarled out "You're lucky you know... What you did was enough to break my promise with Sakura to bring you back, Sasuke... but the other promise? It's the only thing keeping me from ripping your fucking throat out already.". Naruto spat and clenched his jaw, his teeth and jaw ached with the need to shred Sasuke. Saliva was building up and he kept biting his lips on accident, causing tiny rivelets of blood to cover his mouth. The urge to rip the Uchiha's throat out with his bare teeth was intense and he was barely holding onto the promise he made earlier in the fighting.

Sasuke shivered, fear curling low in his gut. He'd never seen Naruto like this... so bloodthirsty and feral, the only thing holding him back a mere promise. It made something clench in what was left of Sasuke's heart as the realization hit that Naruto really did want him dead crept up on him.

"Do it... we both know you're too weak to pull through." Sasuke rasped out with a smirk, his pride and arrogance getting the best of him. He could still beat Naruto, he knew he could even if all of his instincts were telling him to get out now.

Those same instincts suddenly screamed at him in warning but before he could blink he found himself on the ground so quickly that his Sharingan just barely registered it happening. He could feel sharp nails digging into the delicate skin of his throat, the weight of Naruto pinning him down and the burning sensation of the demonic chakra leaking off of the Uzumaki along his body.

"SHUT UP!" Naruto roared, barely restraining himself from squeezing just a little more to snap the Sasuke's neck. "You're coming back to Konoha even if I have to break your goddamn legs." He growled out, his voice guttural and raw.

Naruto could hear Kurama roaring in his mindscape, snarling and screaming to rip the pathetic Uchiha's throat out for what he did and tear him limb from limb. Kurama did always know how to nurture such hateful feelings afterall and Naruto found himself agreeing. Sasuke would deserve it, God, Naruto knew Sasuke would deserve it. But he couldn't... he could break the promise to Sakura, he could break the promise to Kakashi, Tsunade, his friends... even the promise to himself. The one promise he couldn't break was to the person he had left behind to chase Sasuke, bleeding and in the care of Sakura. If he broke that promise he knew there was no coming back for himself.

Naruto pulled himself from his thoughts when he felt Sasuke's muscles tense and smacked Sasuke's head back roughly onto the ground, knocking him out instantly. He clenched his jaw again, teeth still hurting and throbbing from the sheer need to destroy (biteriptear) Sasuke apart. Standing up slowly, in case Sasuke somehow woke up from that hit, he slung the Uchiha over his shoulder and stumbled in the direction he had left his team... where he had left Him, bleeding out and in pain. It made Naruto's stomach roll and his rage at Sasuke flare up again.

His mind raced through the memories from a few hours ago. Confronting Sasuke, Sakura once again trying (and failing) to use diplomacy to bring Sasuke back, Shikamaru working in the background, planning and setting traps as they waited for back-up from the rest of the Rookie 11, just in case Sasuke tried to flee.

Then it went to shit. It happened so fast and he was so focused, too focused, on protecting Sakura from the attack he thought Sasuke was preparing for her that he didn't realize (not fast enough, not good enough, echoed through his mind) that Sasuke wasn't focused on Sakura or him. His attention was zeroed in on the Nara and before Naruto could stop him, Sasuke was holding the Nara from behind. Sasuke's head was perched on Shikamaru's shoulder as he observed Kusanagi (snake bastard's sword), hilt deep through Shikamaru's back and poking from out of his chest.

The sickening shnick of the katana being pulled from Shikamaru's torso made Naruto want to puke. The blood pouring from the wound, Shikamaru's skin suddenly going pale (toopaletoopale) and the wet shuddering gasp he breathed out made Naruto's heart stop and horror creep up his throat. The way Sasuke trailed his hand gently along Shikamaru's face, mocking a lover's touch and staring directly at Naruto was the icing on top.

Naruto couldn't see anything but Shikamaru falling over as Sasuke shunshin'd away from him, hand clutched over the hole in his chest (there shouldn't be a hole there, ohgodohgodohgodohgod). Sakura was already sprinting to Shikamaru, Sasuke was looking sickeningly pleased and saying something (it's always something) to Naruto whose eyes were only on Shikamaru.

In those few seconds that passed, Naruto felt nothing, he was completely empty except for Shikamaru's pain-filled face as blood leaked from the side of his mouth and then Naruto registered over the dull roaring in his ears that Sakura had given a small cry of relief and Naruto sucked in a ragged breath of his own relief. Shikamaru will be okay. He's okay. Sakura has him.

The empty feeling was abruptly washed away by an intense animalistic rage that Naruto had never felt so strongly in his life. He could feel Kurama's glee at the intense hatred and rage he felt. The fox was foaming at the mouth and urging, encouraging Naruto really, against the seal to rip and tear the flesh from the Uchiha spawn for daring to touch, threaten and maim what doesn't belong to him. Naruto didn't try to stop the rising thirst for blood (Sasuke's blood).

Sasuke was leaping away, goading Naruto to follow him. Naruto would kill him, he wouldn't stop himself this time.
He made to step forward, to follow when a quiet noise his hearing, enhanced tenfold from Kurama's influence and chakra, just barely heard made him falter.

"Promise you won't lose yourself... come back... please" He heard Shikamaru's quiet, pain-filled voice and it echoed in his head. Naruto gave a small nod.

It was enough, he wouldn't kill Sasuke. He wouldn't lose himself to the anger and hate... he'd come back with Sasuke. He would keep this promise above all others... this was the only promise he knew down to his core he would keep til the day he died.