The Little Things

By starapple (i.e. martinique)

Rating: R
Note: Adultfanfiction version has lemon, link in profile.
Edit: A few edits made here and there in this chapter to facilitate easy reading.

Prologue

"You don't really understand me, do you? I guess you never did. 'No one will change', bet that is what you thought. If you ever thought about it at all, Sasuke. So you killed your brother. Well done. But you're back now, and ready to act like nothing ever happened. Take a good look around, Sasuke. There's nothing left. They're gone." Naruto rasped out, a bitter tone lodged deep in the shallows of his mouth. "All we have left is each other, and this empty village. Oh, and Gaara over there."

Sasuke hadn't even noticed him. He'd charged in like a dumb five-year old. Had he learnt nothing these past years? He'd learnt enough to kill Itachi. He'd kill him for calling him his brother. He was the man who betrayed everything he had held dear.

"But really, what I would like to know is what you were thinking." Naruto said as he hopped down into the crater and into Sasuke's line of sight. Black eyes, defiantly battle-ready blearily peered into a grinning face, familiar but changed by more than time. "You saw the empty village. And you saw Gaara and I. The first fucking conclusion you come to is that somehow, we must be responsible." The voice, deeper, rougher, paused. "Where's the trust?" Naruto cocked his head, frowning slightly."You alive?"

Sasuke blinked, in a vain effort to clear his eyes of the blood and sand. "Yes", came the faint reply, eyes narrowing dangerously, "and when I wake up, I'm going to rip those tails out." Naruto simply smiled and bent down to Sasuke's ear.

"Good, we have a lot of hating to catch up on; none of that kid-rivalry bullshit." He felt the rush of hot air across his ear; then nothing.