Under cover of night, a boy sat on the ledge of a cliff, basking in the light of the full moon.
"What are you doing here?" blue eyes widened as they fell upon a familiar figure sitting at the edge of the cliff but a smile pulled his lips as he stepped away from the cover of trees, "You're not here to kill me, are you?"
He was greeted with silence. Letting out a long-suffering sigh, he trudged forward and plopped down next to the other, his smile never wavering. "You didn't come last year."
"Naruto." The other warned. Naruto's eyes brightened.
"So you can talk!" The other's glare went completely unnoticed as Naruto leaned back, voice full of laughter. "For a minute, I thought that you had isolated yourself for so long that you had forgotten how to!" Dark eyes shone menacingly before turning away.
"You're a fool." And if Naruto hadn't known the other as well as he did, he would have missed the note of amusement lacing his voice, his grin widened.
"So I don't suppose you'd want to talk about going back to Konoha?" This remark earned him a contemptuous snarl.
"My answers, my goals, lay only in the darkness. There is nothing to be gained from going back, unless it's to destroy it." The words were venomous and left no room to hide doubt. Naruto found it anyway.
"Bull." He spat, equally venomous, all pretences of a smile gone, "If that were true, you wouldn't have come today." Still refusing to look at him, the other made to stand.
"This was a mistake."
"Oh, don't give me that!" Naruto retorted as he grabbed the other's arm and jerked him back down to sit beside him once more. He ignored the poisonous look he received and instead fixed the boy next to him with a sombre gaze, "Sasuke, if you truly wanted to break your bonds to me and Konoha, you would have killed me three years ago."
Sasuke pulled his arm loose, growling low and threatening but he said nothing, and instead he continued to turn away. Naruto persisted regardless, "Are you going to tell me that was a mistake too?" He gasped, as if shocked at the mere idea of it, "I'm surprised! Since when did the Great Sasuke ever admit to making mistakes?"
He paused then, as if uncertain of what to say next, he settled on the one question that had plagued his mind for the past two years. "Why did you come here that first year you left Konoha?"
Sasuke was quiet, brows furrowed and mouth set in a grim line, he stared across the trees below as if they held the answer to that very question. Naruto let out a sigh and glanced away; he'd just gotten his answer.
"Look, Sasuke, I care for you and if that makes me a fool then I'll happily be one. I know things will never go back to the way they were before," At this, they both sat unhappily for a moment, refusing to meet the other's eyes. Naruto took a breath and ploughed on, he had wanted to say this during their last meeting, had regretted not doing so. "But it certainly doesn't have to stay the way it is. Whatever battle you're having, let me fight with you."
"I'll destroy you."
Well, that certainly wasn't the answer that Naruto was expecting, but it didn't really surprise him. It was Sasuke after all. And before he could stop it, a peal of laughter broke his lips. "I won't deny that!" He wheezed, growing suddenly serious, "But I won't let you harm Konoha or any of my- our friends anymore. It'll just be us settling the score- and I won't lose."
"What makes you think-"
"I never said I'd win either. I've already told you, Sasuke, and you already know."
A slight breeze picked up as they both fell into silence
For the moment, words were unnecessary; they could read each other now just as well as they could when they fought. The truth stretched between them and fell heavily upon their shoulders.
Despite that, Naruto could almost imagine that things were okay again. He could almost believe that pandemonium wasn't waiting for them just around the corner, lurking in the shadows.
A smile broke his face for a slit second before he levered himself up. Patting the dust off the seat of his pants, he turned to head back toward the trees. "Well, I'm going to go before Yamato-sensei discovers my shadow clone and freaks out. See you later, Sasuke."
Sasuke didn't even bother to acknowledge the other; he kept his eyes focused firmly on the trees beneath him as if he contemplated jumping into the foliage below.
"Oh, and it's midnight, so happy birthday." Naruto called just before he disappeared through the trees.
Sasuke didn't reply; he didn't have to. Naruto was already gone.
After a moment, he glanced beside him at the kunai that was embedded where Naruto had sat earlier; 'friend' was carved into the glinting metal along the blade. A smirk crossed his face as he yanked it from the ground; storing it with his other weapons- he'd use it in their next battle.
He slipped off the edge of the cliff.