It had come to a confrontation.

They'd always known, somehow, that it would; it had been clear to them both from the very beginning that it would always come down to just the two of them. Best friends, classmates, and peers in every way, save one.

He was an avenger, and Naruto… well, Naruto was Naruto.

They stood about ten feet apart, each poised and slightly uneasy, though they didn't show it. Naruto's eyes glinted red and his teeth appeared to have sharpened, and Sasuke's Uchiha birthright glinted from his own eyes. Both of them were more than a little scuffed up; Naruto had a nasty-looking cut across his forehead and a gash on his left shoulder that was streaming blood at a rather alarming pace. Sasuke had managed to avoid as much serious injury, but there was a thin yet deep scratch across his now-exposed chest and a large bruise was blossoming under the pale skin on the left side of his face, in addition to normal, small battle wounds. Both were breathing hard, but neither wanted to rest. At this point, the both of them just wanted it over, although they had very different reasons.

There was more than the obvious reason Naruto wouldn't look his former best friend in the eyes, Sasuke was sure of that.

"So, Naruto," he growled softly. There was something he'd been meaning to ask the blonde for a while, and the lull in battle and Naruto's seeming reluctance of some sort had brought it to the forefront of his mind. "Are you really this… obsessed… with me? Can't you just… let me go?"

Naruto blinked. He blinked again. Then he burst out laughing, grabbing his sides as his eyes squeezed shut in mirth (and, Sasuke noted, exposing himself stupidly in the middle of battle; however, the Uchiha made no move.) Yet the laughter seemed empty, somehow, mocking and harsh and vile; it was rough, like nothing Sasuke had ever heard come out of Naruto before.

"You have no idea," Naruto choked through his eerie giggles, "how many times I've been asked that question."

When he finally got a hold of himself, he straightened up, still avoiding looking into Sasuke's eyes but somehow staring him down just the same.

"And do you know what the answer it?" he said softly, his eyes flashing. Sasuke watched him silently, not bothering to answer.

"Of course, you fool!" Naruto hissed, his eyes narrowing to slits as he glared at the young Uchiha. "And I'dve reacted nearly the same way if Sakura or Kakashi-sensei had run off. You three-" he broke off, suddenly, staring at the ground as though gathering strength.

"You two," he repeated after a moment, once again staring at Sasuke without meeting his eyes, "were my first friends, the first peers who… who I spent time with, who actually cared what happened to me, who…" He broke off again, struggling with his words.

Sasuke momentarily thought of that Hyugya girl with Naruto mentioned caring for him, but remained silent.

"…my… quest, this quest- getting you back… it's because of the same rough need I know you felt, the one that told you to seek revenge against Itachi for what he did to you! And you felt that because he took something… p-precious… It's not even like it was just a friend who was gone, it's… I-I…"

Silence stretched between them, breached only by Naruto huffing and shuddering. Sasuke just stared at him, more than a bit surprised at this sudden outpouring.

"…yes?" he said finally, blinking to momentarily conceal his Sharingan eyes.

"I…Sasuke, I…"

"What is it, Naruto?" Sasuke growled. "Just tell me whatever it is, already!" I want to get this stupid fight over with! He added mentally.

"I-I-I…!"

"Say it!"

"I LOVE YOU!"

The young Jinchuuriki finally snapped, roaring the words as though they were the only thing tying him to the world and he was letting go. His breath was coming in ragged gasps, and tears began to leak down his battered face and turning pink as they mingled with the grime and blood. Staring at Sasuke- no staring through the best friends who'd broken his heart in so many ways- he said it again, much more quietly, his voice shaking and cracking. "I l-love you."

Sasuke merely stood in shock for a while, watching as Naruto totally broke down right in front of his eyes- eyes which, without himself intending or even realizing it- were once more their natural black shade, as opposed to vivid crimson with black markings. And so he felt no guilt or any of the other emotions he surprised himself by expecting in looking directly into Naruto's eyes, although the blonde still had the appearance of looking through him.

And then he did something Naruto didn't expect at all- and that he himself, admittedly, was greatly surprised by.

He smiled softly, tenderly, and took for long, quick steps, traversing the distance between them before the distraught Naruto, very much emotionally spent, could even register the Uchiha teen's smile.

They were about the same height, so he didn't even have to bend down much to gently press his lips to Naruto's bloody forehead. And he whispered just one thing as Naruto burst out crying in earnest and embraced Sasuke in the kind of desperate hug you'd give a lover whom you'd thought to be dead.

"Love you too."

-x-x-x-x-

Yay! My first ever Naruto fic! 8D You know, this one went through a LOT of changes before I was finally ready to publish it. For starters, it was originally quite platonic, with maybe a smidge of yaoi-ness, but then I went more with the overall tone of the scene and my gut (heh) and, well, this is what happened. Secondly, I originally had Sasuke kissing Naruto's hand, rather than his forehead. But then I kinda looked at that and went "…wait, the heck?" and THAT was corrected pretty quickly. O-o Thirdly and finally… there was just a lot of general changes to the wording before I was happy with it. It went through two revisions, one of which doubled the length (the original pretty much started where Naruto goes "Of course, you fool!" with a quick little intro thingie, and even what was already there was short and crappy) and one of which contained most of the wording and grammar edits. :3

The exact circumstances of the battle were left very vague on purpose; I wanted it to be just a general 'possible ending' that could come from many situations. So if you want to know more, use your IM-AAA-GI-NAAAA-SHUN. (spongebob reference, foo.) –coughcough- AHEM! Well, anyway. I suppose I'll let ya'll go nao. Please do review, tell me what you think! c;