This is for you HC! For being an awesome beta and an even greater person ;) And...uh, surprise? SURPRISE! For nothing in particular XD
Little by Little
Age Eight
Sasuke...can you hear me...?
I've tried...I've tried so hard, but always, always, you're out of my reach.
What are these feelings of mine? And why do I have them...?
Why is it so important to catch up to you...?
These hands...I can't seem to feel them anymore.
The kunai I hold...they're so sharp, and so unwilling to go where I want them to.
I'm trying so hard...just to reach you.
But I vow, I will catch up to you.
Age Nine
You...I don't like the way yours eyes shine with so much sadness.
You seem different. Why are you different?
You face...it looks so out of place with all of the smiling, cheerfulness around us.
But we've always stuck out, haven't we, Sasuke?
Except you have always been the one with more happiness than I.
Why is that?
But not now...there is so much more sadness in your eyes now.
Even more so than mine...
I loath to know that someone is in just as much pain as I am.
What can I do to make it...stop?
Age Ten
These people, with all of this hate.
Hate, towards me. They've always looked at me with such coldness in their hearts.
I wish...for a person, some being, just to look at me with something other than hate.
I want them to smile and have it reach their eyes as well.
Sasuke...
Even though you've never smiled at me, I can tell the difference.
Between you and them, it's you that has a warmth to your stare.
I can tell...that you don't hate me as the others do.
You're not the same as them.
You do not hate me.
Age Eleven
I don't know why, but it seems the only way for me to get stronger is by surpassing you.
You're the strongest one. The one that will make me something if I reach you.
I know I'll be able to defeat you someday.
If I just try hard enough...train as much as I can...I'll be able to do it.
Just you watch Sasuke, one of these days I'll be able to beat you.
I'm not a failure--a nuisance--like everyone says.
You'll see Sasuke, I'll beat you!
I will!
Age Twelve
It seems fate isn't on my side. Why they put me in a team with you, I have no idea.
Do they want to torture me? I guess so.
This fox...this demon inside of me, they want me to suffer for it.
For being alive, for existing.
They hate me for it.
But...
Why has your gaze not changed?
You've looked at me the same way for years.
I see annoyance, anger, bashfulness...
Amusement?
No, that must have been my imagination. You're not amused by anyone, least of all me.
But with all of those different emotions flickering in your eyes...
I still do not see hate.
Is there a reason for that? I have no clue. You must not know...what it means to be 'Uzumaki Naruto'.
You must not know what's inside of me yet.
That has to be it. If not, then...
Why would you risk your life...for me?
To be 'Naruto' means...to be a demon.
I cannot--will not-- forgive you for this Sasuke.
I will not forgive you for giving your life up for a demon.
For me.
But I guess it's safe to call you...
...My friend.
Age Thirteen
These wounds...they don't compare to how much your gaze hurts.
This blood...it does not stain me as much as your words do.
These feelings...do not compare to how much I want to, but can't voice them aloud.
Sasuke...
You are my friend? Aren't you?
You said so yourself.
Then why? Why do this?
You would kill me...
...Sasuke...?
Your eyes...
Still...I do not see what I know should be there.
Age Fifteen
...
Your eyes. I see them again. I can finally see them.
But...there's nothing. Nothing at all.
Not even hate.
You look so empty...
You're strong. I know that.
You don't have to prove it to me.
I've always known.
You've always been strong.
You don't have to...you don't have to do this.
I can't do anything, again.
This pain. Your words.
I sill can't seem to reach you.
Age Sixteen
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Age Seventeen
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Nineteen...
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...Twenty...
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Days go by, weeks span out, seasons change with the passing years...
Still, a lone figure stands out on the pier of a still lake.
Still he stands there, looking over the vacant waters with an expressionless stare.
His hands clutch something. Something important. Something meaningful.
To others it is nothing.
To him, it is everything he's ever wanted.
A hitai-ate.
But the surface is scratched, ruined.
It's held out above the murky darkness of the lake.
Eyes scan the scathed metal once.
Fingers trace the smooth, metallic surface.
And then it falls.
Meh hopes you likes! -love-