Summary: The end has come, and Sasuke is piling up the regrets, with Naruto in his arms. Deathfic
When we were Happy
It didn't have to come to this. It didn't have to be like this. It didn't have to end this way. And yet…
It did.
Sasuke struggled to his feet, one bloody hand upon one bloody knee, until he finally stood: weak and weary. In the midst of all the rock strewn chaos, the wretched scarred battleground, the mass of destruction and insanity, he had only eyes for that tiny little smudge of orange before him.
The agony, the anger that burned through him like a raging, unquenchable hell, he couldn't find it anymore. It was gone, and he was a little numb, a little lost. Footstep before footstep, he struggled against the restrictions of his painfully human body, forward. All he knew was his heart was aching, screaming to be ripped out of the bones and muscles that encaged it—for freedom.
The journey was short…or was it long? His comprehension of the world had long gone, with his sanity and the frail little bundle of morals he gave up so long ago.
"Naruto." The voice was small, hushed, pained.
In a flurry of clothing, he collapsed to his bloody, torn knees. "Naruto." Reaching out crimson stained, scabbed arms he ignored his body that screamed "No!" and wrapped them slowly around the man in front of him.
"Naruto."
He cradled the limp head in the cranny of his elbow, the blond strands tickling at his open wounds. "Naruto." Gently, he raised one hand to graze the bronze face, tracing the scarred whiskers there. "Naruto."
"Naruto."
"Naruto."
It was beginning to rain.
Sasuke huddled the cold body closer to his own beaten body, pressing the man's cheek against his chest roughly, hoping it would quench the throbbing of his heart. "Hey, Naruto." The Uchiha's voice came out raspy, strained, and dripping with all the remorse he could muster from the past agonizing sixteen years of his broken life. "Do you remember?
"Do you remember when we first met? The way I always beat you at everything and the way you always screamed and yelled, saying you would surpass me." Sasuke let out a harsh chuckle that came out naught more than airless pants in the empty valley. "Do you remember when we accidentally kissed, and then found out we were in the same team?"
"Do you remember how everyone would always be interested in me and you would always be left in the dark? Do you remember when the Chuunin Exams came around and you beat Gaara with a single headbutt?"
Sasuke wrapped another arm over Naruto's limp shoulder.
"Do you remember when I saved your sorry ass from those lame rain ninja because you were too scared to move, you scaredy cat? Do you remember when we took out Haku together and you were sobbing, thinking I was dead?"
Sasuke's grip tightened, and slowly, his head began to drop.
"Do you remember how we always tried to reveal Kakashi's face underneath that mask? Do you remember how we used to tease each other to the point of fists?"
"Dobe?" The Uchiha let out a small growl that came off as more of a whimper as he clutched Naruto's body impossibly tighter towards himself. He didn't want to let go.
"Yah! Dobe! Don't you remember?" Sasuke shook the boy's body in his arms violently, screaming when he got no response. "Don't you remember, you dobe! You were supposed to beat me! You were supposed to marry Sakura! You were supposed to be Hokage! You were supposed to show everybody that you were a respectable ninja! You were supposed to live! Damn it! Aren't you listening to me?"
Sasuke screamed. Screamed until he thought his weary lungs would cave in, screamed until he thought his throat would burst, screamed until he thought his voice would carry until the ends of the earth. But even so, Naruto couldn't hear him anymore.
"Don't you remember," he choked out, ignoring the warm tears that were starting to fight their way down his pale cheeks. "Don't you remember, dobe…"
He couldn't bear to say it himself. "Don't you remember…"
When we were happy.
Sasuke gagged, choking on his spit, on his blood, before letting his back curl up, arms still holding Naruto, his friend.
"Neh, dobe."
The world answered him with a deafening growl and a crash of lightning striking the earth.
"Neh, Naruto."
The world answered him with silence.
"I'm happy I met you, too."
x-x-x-x-x-x-
A small drabble (or is it a oneshot?) written after reading the latest manga chapters then crawling back to the very, very first episode of the entire series. Yeah, I mean the episode where Iruka saves Naruto and you relive everything all over again. It's a nostalgia thing.
Thanks for reading and review :0