NiffStral here! Haven't written a fanfic in a while, been working on other stuff (and should be still -coughcough-) but I decided to getting around to doing this. It's a giftfic for AlexYoshida, who draws the most AMAZING SasuNaru doujinshi ever, and writes fantabulous fanfics as well. Yay Lexie!
Beware zee happy ending. .
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Kishimoto-san would have to remind me every second or so that the manga is supposed to be action, not romance, and should not have explicit yaoi sex scenes.
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It was cold.
That was the first feeling Naruto got as he encased himself in his arms, looking around to examine the area. Along with sending shivers down his spine, the area was very desolate, with a wind rushing past his ears every few seconds. Naruto closed his eyes, listening for any sounds of life amongst the wind's gusts.
Sighing when no sound was heard, Naruto opened his eyes once more, looking around for any defining features. He noticed for the first time that he was standing on some sort of large rock, that seemed to be floating in midair, in the large space around him. There were more rocks floating around in the grey space, all as big or bigger than his. They crumbled at the bottom, chunks falling off every so often. Naruto spun around, seeing nothing besides these odd things.
Deciding that standing around was not getting him anywhere, the boy began to walk across the large rock to see if there was some way out of the area.
Stopping after a few minutes of walking straight, Naruto blinked and lowered his arms which had been wrapped around himself to keep him warm and smiled slightly, finally seeing something else he recognized.
"Hey!" He called out, waving a goose-bump-ridden arm. The ten friends who were sitting a few meters away, all huddled in a close circle looked up and smiled, waving back. They beckoned him towards their group as they each slowly stood up, spreading out so each person was an arms length away from the other. Naruto ran up to is friends, stopping next to Kiba.
"Hey guys, are you all lost as well? Do you know where we are?" He asked the group at large, and they all frowned at him. Kiba was the one to reply, putting a hand on the blond's shoulder.
"Naruto... You mean, you don't know? How can you not know?" He asked, face becoming somber. Naruto was as confused as ever.
"Wha... what are you talking about? What don't I know?" He demanded, crossing his arms. He looked around as Neji came up to him, a sad look on the stoic boy's face.
"There's only one reason why we have all come here... There is always only that one reason." Neji explained, looking at Naruto with pity. Said boy shook his head, frustrated.
"No, I really don't know this "reason" you're talking about. Why the hell are we all here? Tell me, already!" He shouted and he could see Ino, Tenten, and Lee all wince, looking at their feet in shame. Sakura was the one who came up to him next, and she surprised him by wrapping her arms around his body. Naruto froze up in a sudden, fearful understanding.
"We're all going to die, Naruto. That's why we've come here." She said, and something deep inside of him knew she was speaking the truth. As she said it, the ground underneath them rumbled ominously, as if warning them of the little time they had left. Naruto looked down, tightly shutting his eyes.
"Right..." He spoke as the rumbling stopped. In the background he heard Shikamaru mutter "troublesome" as the shaking sensation slowly left their bodies.
Opening his eyes, Naruto noticed that many of his friends had sat back down, holding themselves and spread out around the open space of the rock. Looking up at the gray sky that was slowly darkening around the floating rocks around the area, Naruto decided that as long as they had this little time left he was going to make sure his friends, at least, could be comforted. Naruto walked over a few feet and crouched down in between Kiba and Shino first, as they were closest. Kiba was looking at the ground in between his crossed legs, looking visibly upset, of course, and Naruto noticed that Akamaru was nowhere in sight.
Turning to Shino, Naruto noted that he was staring out into space (though it was hard to tell with his glasses), none of his bugs around him, offering him comfort in his last few minutes. Shaking his head, Naruto went over to Kiba and pushed the boy over, who, surprised by this action, fell over sideways, head landing conveniently into Shino's lap. Naruto grinned a little as the two boys blushed.
"You two think you are all alone in this place, but you're wrong. You have each other, don't let that go to waste. Don't you wanna at least be with each other before we die? Don't let this chance go to away, you'll never have it again." He said encouragingly, and he backed up as Kiba slowly sat up but stayed near Shino, mouth twitching as he scooted as close as possible to the boy. Shino, ever the emotionless one, did nothing facially, but slowly lifted his arm and hesitantly put it around Kiba's back, drawing the dog-boy closer. Satisfied, Naruto moved on.
The next two he sat a little ways away from to examine were Sakura, who was sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed, obviously trying not to cry, and Lee, who was staring longing at the pink-haired girl, wanting to hold her in his arms. Naruto shook his head sadly, moving over to Sakura, kneeling next to her.
As he placed a hand on her shoulder, she looked up, blinking almost-tears out of her eyes. She smiled very shakily up at him, trying to be strong.
"N-Naruto, I'm-" She began, but he cut her off.
"Sakura, I know you want to be strong, but sometimes we have to let others get us through this." He said, and heard a sigh coming from Lee's direction. Naruto grinned a little as he noticed this.
"Look what you're doing to poor Lee over there," he said, and heard a gasp coming from the boy's direction. "He obviously want to show you his affection, and you're being too stubborn and trying to be strong without it, even though you know you desperately want it. So go to bushy-brows, it's what you both want, and you know it."
Sakura opened her mouth, looking at her orange-clad friend with wide eyes, before turning to Lee, who was looking at her with hope in his large eyes. Looking down once more, she stood up and turned towards him, smiling. Lee's who figure brightened as he jumped up in joy, running into Sakura's arms, the two of them smiling the whole time. Naruto nodded, proud of his speech-making skills.
Turning to see who was up next, Naruto grinned as he saw Ino and Chouji sitting about three feet apart from one another, glancing quickly up at each other, blushing, then back down again. Shaking his head, he walked towards the two, opting to speak with Chouji instead of Ino. She just plain terrified him at times.
Sitting down in front of the "big-boned" boy, Naruto looked at him with raised eyebrows. Chouji looked up at Naruto and opened his mouth to speak, but the boy in question just rose his eyebrows further. Chouji paused and sighed, looking down.
"I know," he began, staring at his legs, "but you know how Ino is. She'd never go for me- she's all about being really skinny and is obsessed with that other guy." He said dejectedly, and Naruto shook his head.
"Just because she acts like that doesn't mean she really means it, you know how girls can get, they-" He started but was cut off with a hand firmly landing his shoulder. He looked up to see Ino standing behind him, anger on her face. Naruto gulped nervously.
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, orange-boy. I'll take it over from here. She said and Naruto nodded nervously, back up while Ino sat in front of Chouji, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"Chouji, I could care less about your weight. I care about you for who you are inside, you crazy person. Just be here for me, okay?" She said, smiling lightly. Chouji gulped and smiled, leaning in. Naruto smiled and walked from the two, eager to get away from Ino.
Moving on, he turned to the next two on the line: Shikamaru and Temari. The lazy boy was also sitting cross-legged, hands in their concentrating position Naruto had seen once before. Temari was staring at him intently, frowning.
As Naruto walked over to the two of them, about to talk to Shikamaru, he was shocked with Temari shook head head, stood up while saying "screw it", and walked over to the genius, tapping his shoulder harshly. Shikamaru opened his eyes, looking up at her with a bored expression, but before he could say a word the blonde-haired girl lifted him up by his shirt and planted a kiss on his unsuspecting lips. Naruto laughed as Shikamaru's eyes went wide, not understanding.
Temari pulled away a few seconds later, smirking at the lazy genius.
"That troublesome enough for ya?" She asked the shell-shocked boy, and he nodded dumbly. Naruto walked away, laughing to himself.
Turning to see who was up next, he noticed both Neji and Tenten looking at him with raised eyebrows and smile-smirks. Confused, he walked up to them, and Tenten held a hand out for him to stop.
"Naruto, we know what you've been doing, and you don't have to bother with us. Right, Neji?" The girl said, and Neji turned to her and nodded, smiling as he walked up to her.
"Yes, we have already sorted out our problems. Some of us can do it without your help, not that it is not appreciated, though." He said, holding Tenten's hands in his own. Naruto shrugged and grinned at the two of them, walking away.
Sighing, Naruto once again wrapped his arms around himself as another large gust of wind blew by. He smiled at the five couples, all holding each other close, some hugging, some kissing, others simply staring into each other's eyes. Sitting on the ground a few meters away, Naruto wrapped his arms around his knees, which he drew into himself and he closed his eyes, and tensed up.
As he expected, right when he closed his eyes a large, longer rumbling came, shaking the entire rock they were all on. He heard chunks break off from under them, along with chunks from the other rocks landing all around the group, cutting off pieces of their land. The rumbling continued on.
Opening his eyes, Naruto saw all the couples holding each other tight as some looked around nervously. They all latched their arms around each other, holding close. Naruto smiled sadly as they smiled at each other as the rumbling got worse and worse, knowing the time had finally come.
"At least we have each other. At least we aren't alone." Naruto heard all ten of them mutter, moving in for what would be a final kiss. Naruto whimpered, falling to his side as he curled himself up into a tighter ball, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Sasuke..." He muttered, for the first time verbally crying out his vacant lover's name in want and need. Naruto felt tears go down his cheeks as he tried to picture the stoic boy in his mind's eyes, seeing his tall, pale form, that black hair he loved to run his fingers through, that muscular body he loved to touch when they were together...
Shaking his head wildly, Naruto blinked back the tears. "No, I should be glad he's not here... That he doesn't have to suffer through this... At least I know Sasuke will be safe, he can live out his life- without me..." Naruto thought, smiling through the never-ending flow of tears. Yes, at least his love could live.
As the rumbling grew worse and worse with every passing moment, Naruto held himself tightly as he heard the cries of his friends, and the hushes of the cries as their loves made sure none of them were alone.
Closing his eyes once more, as the rock came apart around him, Naruto pictured Sasuke one last time. He imagined the boy standing there, hands in his pockets, smiling at him, only him, as he rose his arms, waiting for Naruto to come running into them, to hold him tight.
With this picture firmly in his mind, Naruto smiled as a huge rock came rushing for his head, and he passed out.
"AHHH!" Naruto cried out, shooting up in his bed. He was panting wildly, hand pressed up against his chest, sweat drenching his body. He blinked wildly as he felt tears streaming down his face.
Falling back down, he found himself in a similar position to that of the one he had been in right before he had died in his dream. Arms wrapped tightly around his shaking body, eyes squeezed shut. He felt his hair sticking to his head from the sweat as he shook silently.
He jerked from his position as he heard his door slam open, and someone come up around him, and he instinctively relaxed as arms wrapped around his form. Slowly, Naruto released his tight grip, and felt another body get up onto the bed with him, and he leaned into a broad, yet very comfortable chest.
"Naruto, what's wrong? Are you alright?" A deep voice asked, and Naruto shook as he wrapped his arms around the other's neck. He took a deep breath and pulled a little away from his lover's body, enough to see his face, but still close enough so the arms could continue comforting him from their place around his body.
"Sa...Sasuke... It was awful." Naruto got out, sniffling, staring deep into the deep onyx eyes full of worry. "You... I-I was going to die, and e-everyone else was th-there, and had someone to c-comfort them, someone to l-love them, but I was a-alone...You weren't there..." Naruto muttered, closing his eyes again. He started to look down, but felt a hand on his chin and was forced to look back up, and he opened his eyes to gaze into those of his love.
"It was just a dream. Don't worry. I'll never leave you." Sasuke whispered, and leaned in for a kiss. Naruto returned it with great gusto, wrapping his arms around Sasuke's neck as the other arms encircled Naruto's waist lovingly, comfortingly. Sasuke pulled away when air was needed, but let his forehead rest on Naruto's as he smiled gently at the shorter boy.
"Dobe, how could you ever think I wouldn't be there for you? It was only a dream, you will only ever be alone in your dreams, for I am always here in reality. I will always be there to comfort you, to love you. You are never alone." Sasuke said, and Naruto nodded, smiling, as the two laid down on the warm bed, always dreaming happy dreams of each other.
.:Owari:.