Hey, everyone.

I want to say a huge thank you to Silentz and Tigrezztail for sending me 'get well soon' messages (I can't remember if I replied :P), you two are lovely and made me feel really great :D. And another huge thank you to YamiTenshi for his shout out in 'Broke Straight Guys' (if you haven't read it yet, then I dunno what you've been doing on fan fiction lately. It's not to be missed!). And another thank you to all the people who reviewed Savour's Light with a 'get well soon' message.

Just dipping my foot back into the writing pool. I have no plan for this, I'm just going to let my fingers fly freely.

(Written while listening to 'Sadness and Sorrow'.)

Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto.

Standing at the highest peek in Konoha, watching the town's people pack away stools in the hazy evening light, stands a boy.

Not a boy, but a man.

Not a man, but a ninja. A single piece in an everlasting puzzle. A single face in a sea of masks.

No time for childhood. Even at the tender age of sixteen, he'd been within the adult world for much too long. Seen far too much cruelty in his little time on Earth. Socialised into believing that the greatest honour is to die for his village. The will of fire. And yet, he wonders if it's worth it.

His open jacket flaps in the wind, showing the black shirt beneath, and the setting sun's orange glow washes his tan away. Even the bandages from a recent mission are bathed in this light. A light so warm and yet ironic, because no warmth heats his heart. He reaches into a pocket, pulls out an old gift, and squeezes it close to his chest.

It's already been three years. Three years today marks the anniversary of friendship lost. And as the busy people below go about their business, making small talk to neighbours and strolling home, they don't notice the missing piece to the puzzle. They don't see how such an insignificant part can be so missed.

But he wasn't insignificant to Sakura or Kakashi or Naruto. He was the final piece - a piece that once missing, messes up the puzzle completely. Because it doesn't matter how much you try to smash a shard of different shape into that hole, it never looks the same.

Even the late Hokages beneath his feet seem to be weeping, but a closer gaze would find the tears to be shadows in the rock face. But it doesn't matter. No one else needs to hold the pain within their chests. As long as the old team look on and remember, that's enough.

Naruto pushes his legs over the edge and dangles his feet in the open air, remembering early childhood lies told. What else could they have been but lies sprouted from a boy's mouth? Because even if he prefers to think otherwise, they were just children. The two of them.

With wishes to grow up too fast, he forgot the most important thing he was leaving behind - his innocence.

A pain in his hand makes him peer down. Pieces of white and red dig into his skin as he spreads his fingers. The gift. Broken. There's no point trying to fix it, it's already too late.

"Hey, Naruto," his raven-haired friend had once said, nudging Naruto as he lay in his arms. Naruto had peered up, removing his eyes from the contrasting skin colours of his hand running along Sasuke's chest. "What do you think about the word 'forever'?"

This had caught Naruto a little off guard. Sasuke didn't make a habit out of random conversations. He was always short-tongued, getting straight to the point. Naruto had shrugged, moving to lean on his elbows and face his friend. He watched as Sasuke moved the arm that had been wrapped around him behind his head. What did he think about 'forever'? "I guess…" he'd said. "It's a word used to make people feel better." Sasuke had looked at him then, and so Naruto continued. "As much as we all wish to either live forever or love forever, it never really lasts… well… forever."

"That's what I was hoping you'd say."

Naruto had tilted his head in that innocent way he used so often as a child. "But that doesn't mean people can't try."

"Trying to achieve something which is impossible is a redundant use of time."

"But hope makes the heart stronger, neh, Sasuke?"

Sasuke had removed the covers then, and pulled open a drawer on the other side of the room while Naruto sat, watching, in bed. He blinked when a small chain with a pendant weaved between the gold links landed in his hand.

"My father gave it to me. I want you to have it."

The Uchiha symbol glinted in Naruto's hand. "But why?"

Sasuke had smiled at his friend. Because that's all they were; friends. Even after all their nights together, they had a common understanding that everyone needed some form of comfort. Their young minds hadn't fully grasped the concept of love.

He'd let his pale fingers smooth out blond locks. "Because nothing lasts forever, but if we can remember… then maybe… it'll last longer than originally planned."

"You're stupid, Sasuke," Naruto had said. "I don't need this to remember you. I have you to remember you. And I don't plan on letting anything happen to either of us to make forever go away."

Sasuke hadn't answered, he just looked away - out the window. And to this day, Naruto wonders what went through his mind that night. Perhaps he'd been thinking about his future leave from the village. How long had he known that forever wasn't going to last much longer?

"I promise not to forget if you do, too," was the last thing Sasuke had said that night, and Naruto wondered if that were true. Maybe somewhere out there Sasuke was thinking back to that same moment. Maybe his chest was also aching inside… In another village… somewhere.

But one thing always made Naruto feel better.

At least they were under the same sky.

Watching the same moon rise and the same sun fall.

The red and white shards of the old pendant slide from his skin as he plucks the pieces out. He grips them, and in a moment's impulse, the shards are gone. Their hurtling through the sky, raising up and up and up at the force shown to them, but eventually they fall - just like the sun - and disappear over the edge of the cliff.

Because he doesn't need them to remember.

He doesn't want the pendant, he wants its owner.

The wind whistles as the last of the orange slips away to be replaced by a darker light.

And one day, he'll find the owner of that pendant-

"Hey, Naruto. What do you think about the word 'forever'?"

-and make forever begin again.

Hmm. I kinda like that. Not bad for having no idea what I was going to write before I started.

Ja ne.

x

*Screeching tires*

Wait a second! I just realized. I just wrote a SasuNaru. I hate SasuNaru! Well, hate is such a strong word. I usually dislike them unless they're amazing. Meh. The tides have changed, I guess.