A/N: So, there's been a lot of confusion. Good! That was my point, muahaha. Now y'all get to see if you were right in your assumptions or not XD
Disclaimer: I may not own Naruto, but Kiba owns me ;)
It had happened back when they were sixteen. Sasuke had just met up with Naruto after the blond's date with Sakura, and they were off to watch a movie. Sasuke didn't know how to describe the feelings he'd experienced back when they were fourteen and Naruto had started dating Sakura. It had been two years, and the feeling was still there.
His elder brother, Itachi, had insisted it was jealousy, but he didn't understand why the other Uchiha thought this. Naruto still spent fifty-percent of his time with Sasuke. He never dropped an appointment with the raven for Sakura, nor did he drop one with Sakura for Sasuke. He juggled the two like an expert, never giving either his best friend or his girlfriend more time than the other. Naruto had always been a fair person.
It had come out of nowhere. The two had been crossing the street at a crosswalk, following the rules of the road perfectly. A truck barrelled around the corner and the next thing Sasuke knew, he was in the hospital. He had a broken arm, cracked ribs, a black eye and one of his kneecaps was dislocated. Naruto hadn't fared any better, breaking four ribs, his nose, his left arm and getting a compound fracture in his left leg. The only difference between the two—
was that Naruto never woke up.
The doctors said he was in an early stage of a coma, but they were still hopeful that he would pull through. Then, a few months later, his brain activity suggested that he'd drowned himself within his own mind. They said that once someone entered an alternate life in their own head, the chances of them ever waking up were less than five-percent. (1)
Sasuke hadn't really understood the whole concept, so he'd researched it. From what he'd gathered, Naruto had created an alternate world in his head, one so extensive and perfect that he was no longer aware of his life outside. Because he'd lost himself so completely in the story he'd created in his head, he wasn't trying to get a grasp on his real life anymore, because as far as he knew, the story he'd created was his real life.
Sasuke had read cases of people dying during comas due to their length. Others awoke and were unable to return to their lives before the coma. Everything Sasuke read made him more and more worried that when—if—Naruto woke up, he wouldn't be the same person.
That, more than anything, scared the raven more than death itself. He didn't think he'd be able to handle it if his Naruto woke up to be a completely different person. The two of them had practically grown up together, they were best friends, they'd been planning on going to the same university and everything. It hurt Sasuke to know that if Naruto woke up, he might not even remember him.
Since the day he'd been committed to the hospital, Sasuke had been there for his best friend. He'd gone to his room every day for a few hours, and even once Sasuke had been released, he still came back. When Naruto had been transferred from the hospital to his home, Sasuke started visiting him there, too. Every day, for about two hours, the raven would come over and just talk to Naruto. He never really said anything, he just spoke. It was mindless rambles, saying anything and everything that came to mind, from the weather, to what he had for dinner the night before. He just had to talk to make himself believe that maybe, just maybe, Naruto would hear his voice and come back.
But of course, after about three months, Sakura had learned about Sasuke's visits, and being his girlfriend, she started to come to Naruto's place, too. That annoyed Sasuke, because at school, she flirted with other guys and had even started considering others to date, but the second she'd learned about what Sasuke was doing, she's come to join him, almost as if it were a war to her. To see who would bring Naruto back.
He wished she'd gotten a new boyfriend so he'd never have to see her again.
They were eighteen, they would be graduating in about six months, and the girl was still fighting with Sasuke about Naruto.
Sasuke hated her. Naruto deserved better.
Though who that was, Sasuke didn't know.
Sasuke slammed his locker as the bell rang, shouldering his backpack. Inuzuka Kiba appeared beside him, elbowing him slightly in the side.
"Yo." he said.
"Hey, man." Sasuke held out his fist and the brunette hit the raven's with his own. "How goes it?"
"Man, advanced Chem is whipping my butt." Kiba groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm gonna fail, dude."
"You'll be fine." Sasuke pushed open the door to their English class, the first thing his eyes finding being Sakura leaning way too close to Abumi Zaku. She even had her hand on his upper thigh. The raven let out a sound of disgust before falling down in a chair, Kiba sitting beside him.
"God, that little bitch needs to stop. Either she breaks up with Naruto and stops visiting him, or she stops flirting with these fuckers." He jerked his head in Sakura's direction. "Speaking of blondie, how's he doing?"
"He's been the same for two years, Kiba, what makes you think yesterday was any different?" Sasuke sighed as he took his English book out and dropped his bag at his feet. The brunette shrugged, leaning back in his chair so the two front legs rose off the ground.
"A guy can hope, can't he? Shit, he's been out so long, I'm starting to think—" He cut himself off as he noticed Sasuke's clenched fists. He dropped back onto all four legs of his chair. "Hey, sorry, dude."
"It's cool." Sasuke replied. "I just—can't imagine going off to uni without him, you know? He and I, we've been together since forever and a half. Even these past two years in high school have been—weird."
"I hear ya, dude." Kiba sighed, putting both hands behind his head and leaning back on his chair again. "Getting detention wasn't fun anymore, it was just boring. And the pranks were never as good without him."
"Can we not talk about this?" the raven whispered. "I just—it's hard enough as it is, okay? I don't need you reminding me of it every day."
"Hey, you're the one who goes to his place all the time, dude. Neji's pissed you bailed on us on Saturday."
"His mum wanted me to help stretch his muscles."
"Sasuke, Neji booked us those concert tickets months ago. He ended up having to invite that fuckin' suicidal dumbass, Gaara. His dad forced him. Neji's gonna beat your ass next time you guys run into each other."
"Naruto was his friend, too."
"Dude, you're acting like a chick." Kiba sighed. "Naruto's not waking up. Get over it, and move on. When are you gonna get yourself a girlfriend? I hear Ino's been eying you."
"Yeah, cause I really want to date the most popular girl in school." He rolled his eyes. "We're only good friends because of Naruto, and I'm not willing to use that to get some from her. I'm good like this. I have my routine, and even if seeing him like that depresses me—it's nice. I'm not giving up on him."
"Dude, why don't you just live at the Uzumaki's?" Kiba opened his book as their teacher, Hatake Kakashi, walked into the class. "You already spend almost all of your time there, anyway."
Sasuke ignored him.
"Naruto? Naruto!" The blond groaned and struggled to open his eyes, his vision swimming for a few seconds before clearing. He looked up into worried green eyes, the rosette sighing, relieved, as he looked around. "Are you okay?"
"What hit me?" he groaned, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.
"The ground."
"That was one hell of a fall." Sai mumbled, looking up the side of the cliff. He couldn't even see the top. "It's a miracle you survived."
"Yeah." He grunted and stood, still rubbing his head. "Where's Kakashi?"
"We don't know." Sai replied. "We went back looking for the two of you, but we didn't find him. Hell, we wouldn't have found you if we hadn't sensed your chakra. Good thing Kyuubi has a strong survival instinct."
"Yeah." Naruto muttered. "Yippee."
"So, now what?" Sakura asked as she stood and dusted off her skirt. "We can't just keep going without Kakashi."
"They probably brought him back. Torture, you know? It reveals many things." Sai said, looking around. "I don't think Kakashi would ever talk, but you never know. I hear they've got this guy who makes Ibiki look like a kitten."
"That's not possible." Sakura insisted, not believing the ANBU. Nobody was better than Morino Ibiki. It was just inconceivable.
"Ladies, can we start walking?" Naruto growled, already having started on his way. He didn't feel like wasting chakra to get back up the cliffside. For all they knew, the Sound nin were waiting for them at the top.
"Do you think maybe we should forget it?" Sakura appeared beside Naruto, Sai on his other side. "I mean, even if Kakashi got away, don't you think Orochimaru will be able to figure out we're headed for Sound? I mean, this is the only road that leads straight there."
"So what if he knows?" Naruto demanded. "We're still going to go. What's he going to do? Increase security? Put everyone on their guard? So what, it won't help him."
"I don't know, but personally, I find it hard to take on more than five people at a time. How about you, Sakura? Five?"
The kunoichi gave him a look and he smiled pleasantly before looking ahead again. He wasn't encouraging Naruto, but he wasn't necessarily telling him it was a bad idea. Hell, Naruto wouldn't listen to them, anyway, and they both knew it, so Sai figured there was no point in arguing. He would just follow Naruto along like a good friend and make sure he didn't get himself killed.
Sakura sighed. "Naruto—"
"No." he interrupted as the three of them walked slowly.
"But—"
"No." he repeated, turning to glare at her. "We're not going back to Konoha. What'll we do? Get backup? Wait a little longer? Nobody cares about Sasuke anymore. Nobody but me. We won't get backup, and if we go back without Kakashi, Tsunade won't let me come after Sasuke again."
"But think about it." Sakura moved to stand in front of Naruto, her hands on his shoulders. "Kakashi was nowhere to be found! What if something's happened to him? What if—what if he's dead?" she whispered.
"Oh, ye of little faith." All of them looked up to see Kakashi sitting on a small ledge, Icha Icha Paradise open and in his face. "I've been waiting for you guys for a while."
"Bastard!" Sakura threw at kunai at him, which he caught in his free hand, finishing the page he was on before snapping the book shut and looking down at them. "We were really worried! Why didn't you come meet us?!"
"Well, you were heading in this direction, anyway." He shrugged and smiled before jumping down, tucking his book away. "Miss me?"
"Bastard!" Sakura went to punch him, but the man ducked, knowing it would hurt since she was so mad at him. Her super-strength was frightening, even to a great shinobi like himself.
"Shall we keep moving?" he asked, Naruto already having pushed past him. "I mean, unless you're scared, Naruto."
"Stop being a prick and hurry up." Naruto snapped, not even bothering to look over his shoulder.
"That boy gets more and more like Sasuke every day." The Jounin sighed as the other three followed him.
"Are we there yet?"
"No!"
"And now?"
"No!"
"How about now?"
"No!"
"Sakura, just ignore him, you're encouraging him by replying." Kakashi stated in a bored fashion, his hands shoved in his pockets as he walked along beside Naruto. The blond had tuned the three of them out—especially Sai.
"Don't you feel like this is making time go by faster, though?" Sai asked pleasantly. "Just think, as soon as I ask and you say yes, we'll be closer and I won't ask anymore. Are we there yet?"
"Yes."
"Don't lie, Sakura."
Kakashi knew the only reason the ANBU wasn't pinching Sakura's cheeks was because he wanted to keep his arms attached to the rest of his body.
Naruto continued to ignore them as he walked before he suddenly paused, frowning. He could hear something. It sounded like Sasuke. He scanned the area, narrowing his eyes as the other three stopped beside him.
"What is it?" Kakashi asked.
"I can hear Sasuke."
"I don't hear anything." Sakura whispered as they all became silent, listening. He could hear Sasuke talking about Neji, which caused the blond to worry about the Hyuuga clan. They had to separate Orochimaru and Sasuke now.
"He's talking about the Hyuuga clan." Sai agreed as they struggled to pinpoint the location. "Do you think Orochimaru knows we're here?"
"Hard to say." Kakashi crouched. "But we're obviously close to Sound's border. We should find shelter and attack at nightfall."
"Agreed."
They all retreated silently, Kakashi and Sai taking the lead while Sakura lingered back with Naruto. She was wringing her hands together as she walked behind the blond, wanting so desperately to talk to him, but at the same time, scared to. She finally decided to tell him. They were best friends, now. Brother and sister.
"Naruto."
"If you're going to ask me to go home, Sakura, the answer is no."
"No, it's-it's not that." The girl sighed. "You know how—Sasuke didn't kill you that one time when you guys fought? How he could have while you were unconscious, but he just walked away?"
"He said it was a whim." Naruto reminded, talking about their last encounter with the Uchiha back when he was still Sasuke.
"Yes, well—that's what the new Sasuke said. But—do you know why the old one walked away? Do you know what he said to me before he'd decided for sure that he was leaving?"
"What?" Naruto whispered, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"He told me—that he was mad. He was mad that you were stronger than him because it meant he couldn't protect you anymore."
Naruto stopped at these words, his feet planted on the ground firmly as Sakura stopped as well, turning to him.
"He said that?" Naruto whispered.
"Yes, he did. He said—that ever since the fight with Haku, you were the person he'd chosen as his 'special person.' He was going to keep improving; get stronger. All for you, and the sake of protecting you. So when you started surpassing him, I think he felt like a failure, or something. Like maybe his whole purpose was wasted, so he went back to his original goal: Itachi." She sighed, running a hand through her pink hair, looking ahead at Sai and Kakashi, who had all but disappeared. "This might be a long shot, since I don't pretend to know what goes on in Sasuke's head, but at the Valley of the End, he could've killed you to get the Mangekyou."
"Because I was his most important person." Naruto whispered.
"I think that his feelings of protectiveness towards you were stronger than his desire to kill Itachi."
"Yeah, well, until we get him back, I guess we'll never know."
Naruto started walking again, following Kakashi and Sai. Sakura watched his retreating back sadly as she felt a drop of water land on her head. She looked up at the dark clouds that had gathered.
"The rain washes away all pains." she whispered as it started raining. "All except yours, Naruto. For you, the rain reminds you of it."
And it was true. Because as the rain soaked into his clothes, his mind thought back to that final fight with Sasuke, where he hadn't been able to save him from his own demons.
Sasuke let his schoolbag drop heavily to the ground as he sighed, wandering into the kitchen where his mother stood cooking dinner. He walked up beside her and kissed her cheek, the woman starting before smiling at him.
"Hey, honey. How was school?"
"You know." He shrugged as he walked to the fridge and opened it. "School."
"Hey, get out of there, we'll be eating dinner as soon as your father gets home." she insisted as she stirred something that looked like meat sauce.
"Well, he's not home yet, is he?" Sasuke grinned as he stuffed the end of a tuna roll into his mouth. Uchiha Mikoto rolled her eyes at her son.
"Cheeky brat. You're becoming more and more like your brother."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Both turned to the door as Itachi walked in, smirking slightly before going to his mother's side and kissing her cheek.
"It has its ups and downs." Mikoto teased as Itachi headed for the fridge and pulled out some orange juice. "Itachi, will you take that roll away from your brother, please."
Sasuke let out a sound of protest as Itachi grabbed the bread right from between his teeth, the younger brother holding butter and barbecue sauce in either hand, thus unable to counter it.
"You'll ruin your dinner." Itachi insisted before biting into the roll himself and wandering towards the table.
Sasuke swallowed before talking, chasing after his brother. "What about you? That's the last one, give it here!" He made to bite the bun, but Itachi pulled it out of reach.
"I'm older, I should eat it."
"That's not fair, give it! You stole it from me!"
Itachi continued to push Sasuke away with his elbow, since he still held the orange juice in his hand, and held the tuna roll up over his head so that Sasuke couldn't bite into it.
The bun was suddenly snatched from his hand, both brothers giving a shout as they spun around, Uchiha Fugaku taking a bite out of it before saluting them with it.
"Thanks."
"Dad!" Sasuke whined before falling into his chair with a pout and putting the butter and barbecue sauce uselessly on the table.
"You'll ruin your dinner." Fugaku insisted as he gave his wife a kiss on the forehead. "How was your day?"
"Good, until the two terrors came home." She motioned Itachi and Sasuke with her head.
"Hey, terrors or not, we're your terrors, and you love us." Sasuke insisted as Itachi placed a glass on the table. He poured orange juice into it and the second he put the container down to grab the glass, Sasuke yanked it away and downed it.
"Brat." Itachi muttered as Sasuke handed the empty glass back, wiping his mouth across the back of his hand.
"Old man."
"Twit."
"Jerk."
"Bastard."
"Asshole."
"Hey, hey." Mikoto turned around. "Language!"
"Your mother is right." Fugaku glared at Sasuke. "I am appalled! Three sets of insults, and neither of you used the word 'fuck'."
"Sorry." Sasuke sighed. "I was thinking of dick, next."
"I had cock-sucker, myself." Itachi agreed.
"Boys!" Mikoto exclaimed, sighing as she picked up two plates and headed for the table. "Fugaku, don't encourage them, please."
"Sorry."
Sasuke grinned as she put one plate down in front of him, and the other in front of Itachi.
"Oh, spaghetti." the youngest Uchiha said happily.
"See? Aren't you glad you didn't ruin your dinner?" Mikoto sat down as Fugaku headed for the table with the two final plates.
"Are you serious? Sasuke's a freakin' garborator. You could feed him a horse at five and he'll still be hungry enough for dinner at six." Itachi took a bite of his dinner as Sasuke grinned.
"What a family." Mikoto sighed, exasperated. "There's too much testosterone, you all gang up on me too much."
"Aw, it's only because you're worth it, honey." Fugaku kissed her temple as they continued eating.
"So, Sasuke, how's Naruto doing?"
Sasuke's fork froze, Itachi and Fugaku looking at him. He put his fork down and cleared his throat, avoiding their eyes.
"He's good. Excuse me." He stood up and headed for the door.
"Sweetheart—" Mikoto started to stand but Itachi held out his hand, standing instead.
"I'll go." Itachi walked out into the living room, Sasuke sitting on the couch with his hands folded together and pressed against his lips. The elder Uchiha sat down beside him, neither saying a word for a few seconds.
"She just asks because she cares."
Sasuke scoffed. "He's been in a coma for two years, don't you think that if he suddenly woke up, you would know?"
"Naruto is a hard topic to bring up with you, and you know how private the two of us are. She just wants to make sure you're doing all right."
Sasuke ran his hands through his hair, letting them remain in his dark locks as he looked down at the floor. "It should've been me."
"Sasuke." The tone was one of warning. Itachi hated it when Sasuke got like this.
"No, it should have been me! Naruto had—everything. A girlfriend, good grades, popular... He was happy. I just—wasn't. No one would've missed me."
"Naruto would have." Itachi countered. "He wouldn't have been all those things anymore. I'm sorry this happened at all, but you're going to have to just have faith and hope he wakes up."
Itachi patted his brother's shoulder before standing to head back into the kitchen. Sasuke called out to him, Itachi stopping and turning back to him.
"Do you think—he's happy? You know, wherever he is?"
Itachi shrugged. "Who knows? But I guarantee that when he comes back, he'll be happier than he ever was there."
Itachi returned to the kitchen. Sasuke went to his room.
Naruto sat at the entrance of the large cave they'd decided to take shelter in. The other three had opted to rest before night fell, but Naruto couldn't sleep, so he decided to keep watch.
He rarely slept anymore, his mind always uneasy. He had a weird fear that one day, he'd fall asleep and not wake up. That his whole world would suddenly disappear and he would have no way of getting back.
It had been a feeling he'd started getting soon after having seen Sasuke for that brief moment years ago. That day, Sasuke had tried to kill him, and would have succeeded had Sai not intervened. Ever since then, he kept hearing the raven's voice in his head, as if haunting him. Once, he'd woken up in bed in a cold sweat, positive that Sasuke had been near him and touching his face.
As Naruto leaned back against the wall with a sigh, he let his mind wander towards his ex-teammate, as it often did. He thought about everything they'd gone through, and all the emotions they'd evoked in one another. Naruto didn't know about Sasuke, but he'd come to realize a few things about his feelings.
Sasuke was his most precious person—just as Sakura claimed Naruto was Sasuke's—and the raven was the only person to truly acknowledge him. Be his friend. His rival. Naruto realized he loved the Uchiha. He'd tried to deny it at first while he was off with Jiraiya for those two and a half years. He'd insisted that the sick feeling in his stomach that appeared every time he thought of Sasuke was just grief. It was anger and sadness. But the more he thought about it—the more he realized that wasn't the case. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he couldn't.
Naruto was in love with the teme.
It was almost sickening even thinking about it—how he could love someone who'd caused him so much pain. The fact that Sasuke was a guy, just like him, didn't really even occur to him. Love was blind, and more than one shinobi and kunoichi in Konoha were in love with others of the same sex. It wasn't frowned upon, it was actually fairly common, and thus, accepted.
It was just the fact that it was Sasuke that bothered Naruto. Sasuke, who had hurt him. Sasuke, who had almost killed him. Twice. It just—was stupid. It was imbecilic for him to love someone who did nothing but cause him pain. Then again, Naruto had never been known to be smart.
Something shifting behind him snapped him out of his reverie, the blond turning to watch Sai slowly make his way to the front of the cave. The other sat down beside Naruto with a deep sigh, looking out at the darkening sky.
"Can I ask you something?" Naruto turned to Sai before nodding. "Why do you believe in him so much?" The ANBU turned to look at the blond. "You've never given up on him, ever. You truly believe that he'll come back once he's separated from Orochimaru."
"I guess..." Naruto trailed off before smiling slightly. "It's because of what he said that one time."
"I want to avenge my clan."
Sai cocked an eyebrow. "I don't get it."
Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "I know, it seems weird, but—well, he hasn't done that yet. Orochimaru broke his promise. That, and just—the way Sasuke changed while with Team Seven. He was so closed off and reserved when we first started training, but after that, we all just—evolved. He became more open and all of us started caring about one another more. It's like when Gaara went Shukkaku while in Konoha and he threatened to kill Sakura. Sasuke and I jumped into action. Sasuke was concerned about her, and me, and that's why he opened the seal. He wanted to protect us. The Sasuke I'd met on that first day wouldn't have risked his life for an annoying pink-haired fangirl and a stupid, dead-last Kyuubi container."
Sai still didn't get it, but then again, he couldn't claim to ever have understood the blond. He just knew that Naruto had a way about him that sucked people in. He was just like that.
"I have another question for you." Naruto nodded again as his eyes scanned the ever-darkening sky. "If it came down to you having to choose between saving Sasuke, and saving me, who would you choose?"
Naruto had to smile. Baikan Sai, as blunt as ever.
"In what way?" he asked.
"If Sasuke was about to kill me, and the only way to stop him was to kill him—would you do it, or let me die?" Sai pinned Naruto with an intense gaze. The blond ran a hand through unruly locks.
"Honestly—I don't know."
Sai was a little hurt, but he had to admit, he'd known it was coming. "I'd choose you over Sasuke."
"It's not the same choice." Naruto smiled slightly. "It's like me being able to choose between you and Orochimaru; of course I'd choose you. But for me to choose between you and Sasuke—it'd be like asking you to choose between Sakura and me."
"Still you." Sai said immediately. "Sakura hits me too much." He grinned at Naruto.
"Okay, then what about your brother and me?"
The grin slowly faded from Sai's face as he turned away and tried to think about it. His brother versus his best friend. Who would he choose to save?
"I don't know." he finally whispered.
"That's what it's like for me when you ask you or Sasuke." Naruto smiled.
They both heard something behind them and turned to see Kakashi and Sakura emerging from the depths of the cave.
"Night's fallen. It's time."
Naruto and Sai nodded before standing.
(1) I have no idea if this is possible, but for the sake of my fic, it is XD haha.
AN: Hey ho! So, now I can explain the OOCness. OOCness because the people Naruto perceives as his friends in his coma state are NOT the same people he knows them as in real life... enough said.
I can also clear a few things up, to people who are still confused. Naruto is in a coma, thus everything we see from Naruto's POV is his coma-enduced dream, which I've made the Narutoverse (Ninjas and so on) and everything seen from Sasuke's POV is the real world, where there's the unconscious Naruto. So when it jumps back and forth between the ninja world and school, it's because it's jumping between Naruto's dream and the real world, and it's showing people's reactions to Naruto's coma. I hope that helped explain things to people who are still confused.