"Naruto…" Sasuke whispered. What was this feeling? This feeling of mutual sadness. It wasn't pity, or not a pity that Sasuke had ever felt before. His heart hurt, and he didn't know why. A tear slid down one side of Naruto's face and the answer hit Sasuke with so much force that he thought he was going to fall backwards.
Ever since that day when they were first placed in cell group seven with Sakura and Kakashi, Sasuke had thought the blond was cute. Annoying, but cute none the less. As they grew, physically and mentally, Sasuke had realized that he like the other boy, but he never voiced himself because of who they were (Sasuke, at the top of his class, from a respectable and well-known family, and who was liked by nearly everyone, especially the girls their age. And Naruto, at the bottom of their class, a orphan since birth and the container of the vicious nine-tailed fox that had terrorized the village, and hated and/or feared by everyone his whole life. Not to mention their sex's being the same).
It was obvious now that he no longer like the boy…he loved him. Absents from him had averted his attention so that he never realized how he felt. Training had made it difficult to have emotions, especially ones of love (from training, personal chores, and being forced to help his senior ninjas, Sasuke had a hard time breathing and staying awake).
As he took his first few steps forward he noticed Naruto flinch, only then becoming conscious of the fact that his white shirt was covered in Itachi's blood and he was still carrying his sword. Quickly dropping the weapon, he rushed to kneel over the confused blond.
"Naruto? Are you alright?" he asked looking intently at his tanned face, checking for anything wrong. All he found was sadness and uncertainty.
"Sasuke? But…wh…what? He…he…killed…"
"What? Didn't you see? It was a fake."
"No…no! No! No! No! Dead…you're dead…" Naruto burst into tears.
"Naruto? Naruto?! What the matter with you?"
"He can't see you." Sakura said, walking towards them, "His mind is gone. He's in type of shock. He just saw you, you die, and you kill Itachi. He's also tired beyond belief…frankly I'm surprised that I'm still functioning. He just need to get some sleep and he will be fine. He'll be out I a minute or two."
"He's okay?"
"Perfectly…well he will be."
He looked down at the still sobbing blond and saw him yawn between a shutter. Naruto did seem tired now that his eyelids were drooping and he began to wobble. He slumped and fell sideways to be caught by the black-haired man.
"See. Just sleep." said Sakura as she turned to walk back to Kakashi.
"Umm…Sakura?"
"Yes?" she asked.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving and hurting you guys."
"Yes, you did hurt us, but it's not me you should be apologizing to." she nodded toward the one in his arms.
"Yea."
"Hey! Don't just sit there looking solemn! Help me with them. We should head back to Konoha instead of staying here." she ordered.
Sasuke smiled. Though he did wonder about being let back into Konoha, for now he was just happy to be back around his old friends.