AN-Sorry for the delay, I read too much... _(:3 」∠ )_
Comments, critiques welcome. Thank you for reviewing everyone (esp you return reviewers), you guys make writing this more fun~
The third and fourth day in the hospital is uneventful besides the gradual addition of Naruto's books and ramen cups piling up in Sasuke's room. Sasuke spends half of the day in quiet solitude, staring outside of the window as the wind blows through him or reading until Tsunade or Shizune drop by to bathe or drug him. The first day they'd tried bathing him, he'd glared and tensed so hard that Tsunade had grabbed his arm in a bruising grip. The next day he'd grudgingly nodded at the hokage's assistant and let her go about her duty without a word.
Understandably, Sakura doesn't return until noontime on the fourth day despite her promise to drop by days before. In hindsight, after the talk with Naruto, there were moments when Sasuke could have been gentler to her. But, after chewing over every detail he remembered, the coulds didn't outweigh the certainty that he'd spoken.
He and Naruto are in the middle of discussing the wheres and hows of leaving the building, both stiffly standing, with Sasuke slightly leaning his legs against the bed and Naruto inches from him, waving arm and stump with his explanation. She enters his line of vision just as Naruto mentions stealing supplies after doing an hour of reconnaissance.
"What are you guys arguing about now?" Sakura approaches them, startling their blond teammate, arms laden with clothes and two pouches. Her green gaze springs, never meeting directly.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto sing-songs, face blossoming, mood lifting and body bouncing enough to be annoying and Sasuke feels the muscles on his face shift when Sakura returns his attention with a reserved, but soft, look of her own. "We were talking!"
"Only you two could talk and be audible through the whole hall," Her peachy hair swishes with her headshake as she steps closer, sidestepping them to dump her armload on the unmade bed.
"That's cause jerkwad just wants to leave without anything," Naruto pokes him in the side, perhaps right into Sasuke's kidney by the jabbing pain his finger leaves. Sasuke, discretely, stomps on the closest toe, exchanging heated glares, before both of them look at her, Naruto with both his wheaten eyebrows raised in a failed attempt to question, and his through a sideways glance.
"Figures you'd both be ready to...leave by now so here," She gestures to the supplies, "Clothes, soldier pills, and mild painkillers to last a couple of days."
Naruto steps around him, grabbing a green clad shoulder to envelop her in a one handed hug, "Thanks Sakura-chan, you're the best!"
"Of course," Her light cheek rests for a moment on Naruto's shoulder, arms around his shoulder blades, not clutching but close enough. It is, probably, the same gesture Sasuke had received days prior, but the familiarity eases nothing of the discomfort tapping in his gut as he watches them separate, to rifle through the proffered items.
"Where did you get them?" Sasuke asks her, watching Naruto fingering the dark shirts with wonder.
"Here and there." Vagueness is the shy friend of a guilty conscience, Sasuke remembers a female, kind voice telling him years ago.
"You didn't steal them." The question is there, and Sasuke knows it borders on incredulous.
"Well," She looks off to the side, a proud smirk adorning her nude lips, "No one said I couldn't borrow from the supply room."
A second ticks by, wherein Sasuke feels a tick on his face as Naruto guffaws, grabbing her again in a too affectionate hug, "That's our girl!"
"Don't encourage her, delinquent," Sasuke frowns at them both.
"Jeeze, what crawled up your ass?" Naruto turns towards him, arm still slung around her shoulders as Sakura stares a little defiantly slightly to the left of Sasuke's eye contact, "If these were that important, they'd be guarded, duh."
"I will not be explaining the morality of stealing," Sasuke raises his arm to pinch at the bridge of his nose.
"I don't think you're up to being the voice of morality yet," Naruto frowns just as his stance shifts, hip jutting outward and body slouching a little. It is one that harbors no ill will and exudes nothing but pure stubbornness. The jab stings, but just a little. The truths is, after all, the truth.
"Oh, burn," She snickers, green eyes flashing to his face and Naruto's, in a way all to much like Naruto, that Sasuke feels the budding headache increase threefold.
Naruto's expression directed at her screams I know right and I'm good and Sasuke wants to throw them both out of the window when Sakura's smile grows bigger.
"Fine," The word whistles between his teeth, feeling tired not from the situation but because one dumb teammate has morphed to two. In a short span of days.
Both of his light haired teammates victoriously grin at him, expressions bordering on smug.
"Fine," He repeats, cause he's now dealing with two idiots with apparently compatible wavelengths, "Now get out."
Naruto squawks just as Sakura, finally, meets his gaze and glares at him with fire in her emerald eyes and says, "How rude."
"Unless you want both Naruto and I to give you a strip show?" He teases her because as much as she is grown up, she is still a girl, and he banks on her sense of decency.
She blushes redder than her pastel hair but only for a moment, before her face scrunches in contemplation.
Naruto leers.
"Get out." Sasuke scowls at her and wonders if perverseness is contagious. Naruto giggles, and it could only be considered a giggle from it's similarity to Kakashi's annoying sounds, while he pushes Sakura towards the door, turning full-out mirthful when Sakura, too, giggles along.
Sasuke trails them as she playfully protests until they reach the door. Naruto's laughter and her gigles die out when she twirls at the threshold, candy hair fanning out, to consider them.
Sasuke can't see the face Naruto's making, only the square of his shoulders and the unguarded stance of his legs, but something in his expression must be different by the slow buildup of tears filling her eyes.
"Hey, now," Naruto reaches for her while Sasuke stands, rooted on the spot. "What's wrong?"
"I don't," She shudders, stepping back and out of the embrace their blond teammate offers. " I don't know. It's just, I think I'm really happy."
Naruto's eyes seek him, taking an effort to turn and send him an incredulous, questioning look for a blink.
"I never thought I'd see you two standing peacefully together again."
Naruto stiffens, hopelessness a foreign thought, no doubt especially for their situation.
Sasuke's fingers twitches.
Sakura and he have always been the realist, once her fangirl goggles were removed. He had never harbored delusions of returning to Konoha, and she, no doubt, dreamed but never believed. But Naruto.
Naruto dreamed, hoped, and reached for everything he wanted. Perhaps down one moment, but never enough to let go, to be tethered by unkind realities. His beliefs often shaken but never toppled.
Unsaid words and thoughts stream as green meets his black, perhaps passing through or over the embodiment of optimism standing in between them, and Sasuke nods to her.
Naruto chirps his oblivious agreement, exuding happiness from every pore.
Sakura's creamy fingers travel forward, clasping Naruto's shoulder, coral lips alarming against a brown cheek. "Thank you...for everything," her lips move, even though Sasuke hears nothing.
Tanned arms stir, possibly to cage her or this moment, but her body moves out of reach once again, with a blue tinged smile.
"Really. Thank you, Naruto," She says, throwing the boy such a sincere expression it sends discomfort skittering like insects across Sasuke's skin.
"No problem, Sakura-chan." The timbre of his voice is low, and Sasuke wishes he could see the expression accompanying it. "Anything for you."
Her face flashes happiness, cheeks reddening at that. She looks ready to hug Naruto again, but her eyes flick to Sasuke, and something must have been on his face. It makes her hesitate, smile slipping a notch into the space she and Sasuke share. She shakes her head and with another nod sent his way, leaves the bubble of thoughts and what ifs.
The clacking of her heels echo, slowly fading with each step.
"We really were that bad, huh." Naruto's gaze trails the sound until the sound disappears around the corner. Once he's satisfied with whatever makes his gaze linger, Naruto pivots to capture Sasuke with an upturn of his lips. "But, everything's turned up for the better, right?"
Sasuke faces the hopeful sky and bright sun in front of him, grey clouds in the far of distance and couldn't, couldn't agree more.
They change in companionable silence, Naruto in the connected bathroom and Sasuke on his bed, after knocking back a dose of pain pills. Putting on his shirt is just as easy with one hand as with two, though the long sleeves gives him trouble, but boxers and pants are another matter. Sasuke is glad that both are elastic at the waist, helping the situation just a little, but after embarrassingly wiggling and getting only the boxers on, slightly panting and sweating, Naruto slams the door separating them open, dark chuunin pants thrown over his shoulder.
Dark, ordinary boxers on but riding precariously low.
Red cheeks and a stubborn pout fills Sasuke's vision as he wretches it up, just as his own face feels hot.
"I," Naruto licks his lips, turning redder and Sasuke feels himself burn a little more, the frown on his face growing deeper, "I help you, you help me?"
Refusing the help would prolong the weirdness, the act and the contact. "Hn," he answers, watching Naruto approach with a determined face and hesitating steps.
They're less than an arm's length apart as they stare each other down, waiting for someone to bow to the pressure and cave into starting. And stare some more, while their expressions shift from discomfited to annoyed, until Naruto's thicker fingers reach.
Sasuke fights the flinch when uneven nails scrape the outside of his left thigh to grab a piece of the cloth, each jagged edge drawing its own line and sensation on his skin.
But his quickly drawn breath is audible.
And Naruto's fingers twitch before closing more confidently with purpose.
Their gazes lock again, palms sweaty and hearts racing.
Naruto opens his mouth, pink tongue briefly licking at his lips, before he breaks eye contact to quickly tug his side of the clothing up. A brusque movement, like pulling plaster off a wound.
They stand together like that for a couple of breaths, too close in each other's space but neither moving to remedy it. Sasuke stands, motionless, still lost in the buzzing of his skin. Naruto waiting for something.
A short, cut off snort comes from the blond as he moves back.
"Uh," Naruto's head swivels to the side, hiding under a fringe of wheat, "As funny as it is to see you with half your pants on, can we get this over with?"
The furtive glances Sasuke gets, from his face to his frozen hand brings a scowl on his face. Deepening when Naruto gives up to sit on the bed with an expectant look, readying his own pair by sticking his feet in the leg holes.
The situation, in one word, is annoying. Especially the fizzing sensation Naruto's fingers left on his skin and the fact that only he seems to be affected by the touch.
Sasuke yanks the fabric in his hold, now so so easy, turning with purpose to grab a part of Naruto's pants, never mind that the side he reaches for is where Naruto didn't lose a limb. He hears a muttered 'ass' as Naruto's arm crosses his chest to grasp the other side.
He makes sure his own fingers touch nothing but soft cloth.
And Sasuke steps back just as he pulls up and lets go, perfectly timed with Naruto's hop forward and own sharp tug.
"Ta da!" Naruto stands, feet squarely planted with his arm thrown up and out in celebration.
"Moron."
"Bastard," Naruto laughs at him, twisting around to the things left on the bed. Sasuke approaches, but moves away when his fingers are batted away after both of them reach for the supplies. The blond throws two pairs of shoes onto the floor, one landing beside Sasuke's bare feet while he slips one on himself. Once done, other teen hunches over the items as he stuffs them into the only backpack they have. "We'll take forever with how slow you're moving, grandpa."
A sneer forms on Sasuke's face, though Naruto can't see it, "Making sure you don't screw up."
"How the hell could I screw up packing?" Naruto turns around, almost smacking him with the pack now nestled on his back.
"The same way your underwear is backwards," Sasuke feels his lips stretch wider, thanking his sharp attention to detail while he keeps his face upturned to make sure Naruto catches it this time.
Naruto flushes bright, flitting between anger and embarrassment. Stuck motionless with his hand wound around the pack's strap.
"Are you ready," Sasuke smiles and smiles, turning away with a low "future Hokage-sama?"
"Shut up!"
Naruto's hand flies towards him but already Sasuke is, calmly, taking steps to the door. His cold palms meet the colder knob just as Naruto catches up to him.
Swallowing back the bark of laughter that tickles his chest, he can hear Naruto's annoyed grumbles and insults quietly said but not really, Sasuke turns the metal facing forward with warmth close behind.
His first steps, consciously, into Konoha.
Despite the roiling voices booming in his head, urging him to return to the Uchiha district, he allows Naruto to lead them to their first stop, Naruto's old apartment complex.
Or where it used to be.
Just like many buildings they'd passed in Konoha, the apartment is in rubbles with people purposely puttering all around. Though Sasuke's used to this side of Konoha being less populated, it is the poorer side with less families and more single adults and children, the streets are much more lively with action than years ago.
People moving about as they shifted through debris, saving anything they could.
People pulling messes to cover with pure white sheets.
He hears nothing from the form in front of him. Sees only the quiet clenching of a fist, closing and opening on the chuunin pants they'd borrowed.
Sakura would probably hold that hand, perhaps squeeze it in her own grip.
Kakashi would, perhaps, give some type of anecdote. Or let his student be, with his presence close at his back.
Mother would offer her arms. Pull that strong, too strong back towards her to cradle and soothe.
Father would let Naruto stand and think, brood or cry, without a gesture of comfort.
Itachi would...
Sasuke draws himself beside Naruto, glancing briefly at the blond's blank expression before returning his gaze at the ruin of Naruto's home. There are bits of wood everywhere and pieces of the old railing he used to see Naruto lean against, surveying Konoha on their days off.
"Well," That grating voice cracks near the end, "this sucks."
"Yeah."
Naruto still doesn't move forward or back, just stares with his hand silently moving close to Sasuke's own. "I mean, I knew Pein's attack and that bijuu bomb did damage but..."
"Yeah."
They stand together, shoulders almost brushing with each breath, letting the sounds of movement wash over them as people pick up pieces of their lives, sometimes with cries of anguish, sometimes with cries of delight.
In that easy silence until an old man, hands in thick gardening gloves, rolls past them with a wheelbarrow, pausing with a look of open surprise, "Kid!"
Sasuke watches Naruto's profile as it crumbles a little, eyes lighting up in recognition, before it builds back up in a smile slightly sagging on the edges. He moves forward, body heat leaving Sasuke's side quick enough that Sasuke follows to remedy it, "Old man!"
"I'm glad you're alright," the graying man stops a polite distance away, regarding them both with soft doe eyes. Satisfied with whatever he sees, his attention moves back to the pile of wood and concrete, "Such a mess, huh? Takes a while to clear and fix things, especially with most of you shinobi out of commission. But it can't be helped, gotta do what we can."
"I see."
The distant sound of Naruto's answer must have been as obvious for the civilian as it was for Sasuke. His gunmetal eyes sweep from Sasuke to Naruto, before sharply turning to walk around the bend of the rubble, "Ah I have something for you, wait here."
Clanks and sounds of solid objects bumping against each other drift from where the hunched back disappeared, mixing with the thuds of tipping stone and wood.
Sasuke remembers all the piles of stuff he'd seen in Naruto's studio the few times he'd stopped by all those years ago. Books, scrolls, clothes, and food containers strewn about. Clutter and plants all over the place, making it almost dangerously busy yet homely. Greenery always tastefully placed away from potential danger. Every leaf always green and healthy.
Naruto's home oozed his unorganized, but always caring, character.
He wonders how much of that's been reduced to trash, underneath all the broken steel, wood, and stone.
"I'm fine, Sasuke," Naruto huffs in front of him, now staring at the sky, where Sasuke remembers his balcony used to be.
"Didn't say anything," Sasuke joins his focus only for a second before turning to watch five children, in an organized line, cautiously moving slabs of rubble from a collapsed building to a remote pile. Repeating the motion with salvageable items, though it lands in a separate pile.
"I could feel your eyes on the back of my head."
"Because your big head's in the way."
"Ha ha, very funny," Naruto's downcast, storming eyes flash at him, "Teme."
"Dobe."
Thin, upset lips twitch at the corners. Even though the eyes still look troubled, almost navy blue and clouding, the slight movement feels right. Fitting in the situation, even if Sasuke wants more.
"Hmph," Sasuke returns to watching the children, now rejoicing over something they've found. They titter amidst the destruction, smiling over a couple of toys they've uncovered under a big piece of wooden plank. They pass each toy to each other, from stuffed animals to simple slingshots and dolls, sharing the joy. Perhaps like family, Sasuke thinks, though none of the kids look at all similar.
"If I didn't know any better," Bony shoulder nudges him, "I would say, you're being nice."
"You are hallucinating."
The shoulders shake against his. Again, Naruto whispers, "Ass."
Their eyes meet again, still Naruto doesn't smile, but the air around him is less suffocating, heavy but breathable.
"These," the old man's voice rips them both away from studying each other's face, "we found these in the mess."
He holds up two items. In his right grip, a ripped and dirt covered stuffed toy that, with close inspection, Sasuke recognizes as a ridiculous copy of Kakashi. And on his left, a hand-sized planter, cracked and containing a plant with a half broken stem.
Naruto lets out a strangled noise, reaching for the toy and clutching it to his chest when it's given to him. He looks at the plant, probably wishing he could take it himself so Sasuke gestures at the planter, offering his hand, freeing Naruto to bury his face annoyingly into the toy's head.
"We'll probably find more of your stuff," the man continues, ignoring the shaking male in front of him to look at Sasuke directly, "and I'll gather the ones I recognize, so you and your friend could pick it up later."
Naruto mumbles a 'thank you,' face hiding in the dirty toy. Sasuke acknowledges with a small movement of his head.
"I've got to get back to work," the old man bows at them, "It really is great to see you, kid."
"Thank you," Naruto repeats in a low, barely there voice, his face still covered as the man shuffles away.
Clouds shift above, casting shadows all around them as they drift in the sky, lighting and darkening them all indiscriminately. Direct sunlight makes Naruto's hair shine golden, while the overcast dulls it into brass, like valuable metals resting on his bent head.
Shaking with his sobs, swaying in the breeze.
"C'mon, idiot," Sasuke follows the direction burned in his heart, expecting Naruto to pursue without questions.
They travel in silence, Naruto slowly catching up while Sasuke shortens his gait. Naruto's hand is occupied with the Kakashi look-alike while his own contains the plant, rocking with his movements. They head toward his looming, waiting past. Farther than the impoverished outskirts of Konoha.
Hushed footsteps trail him, sure in gait, despite it's light sounds.
The rhythmic footfalls behind him eases, just a bit, the pressure each of his own steps summon in his heart. Two stones added, one stone taken.
But, still, their march continues.
Their second stop is no better.
As soon as they step foot through the gates, Sasuke's whole being tightens like a cord.
The buildings are standing, roofs and facades covered in dust and debris blown from the ruined parts of Konoha. The streets, too, are intact but dirty. However the sight before him sends Sasuke's vision reeling with rage, gut churning with red hot fury. Had he more chakra to spare, his sharingan would probably be activated in response, catching anyone who looks his way into a genjutsu of torturous screams and blood.
People he doesn't recognize litter the streets, opening and loitering in doors long shut.
They laugh and chatter away, between gray walls and red tinted memories, with abandon and joy.
Breathing life into the graveyards of the Uchiha District.
He wants to incinerate them all. May have done so, had he the energy.
All hapless civilians. Desecrating his memories, chasing away shadows and ghosts.
"Sasuke," Naruto's voice cuts through the crimson haze, soft spoken but poignant, "Sasuke."
"What," His vision changes, tunnels to track a couple as they interact with a little girl, their daughter most likely. The man's kiss on her forehead sets his teeth grinding.
"Stop trying to light them on fire with your eyes," a sharp poke in the side accompanies the order. "You're being rude."
The little girl starts swinging her arms, joined with her parents, and Sasuke's teeth grinds more, bordering on painful, "What."
"Try speaking in sentences." Another poke, this time right between two rib bones.
Sasuke twirls on him, redirecting his anger at an annoyance easily reached, as the girl laughs and smiles, and her adults look all of content doting parents. "What. Are. They. Doing. Here."
Naruto's frank stare doesn't waver, even though his eyes are slightly red rimmed, bottom lids puffy, "They're living..."
"I know that," Sasuke hisses, putting down the plant to ready himself. Blood singing to beat the shit out of something, anything.
"They're living," Naruto continues, "as best as they can, after all the destruction."
"Why here?" His pale fingers almost close around a tanned throat, settling instead to furiously grasp the turtleneck of the chuunin long sleeve.
Naruto's eyes never leaves his gaze, open in truth and honesty, "considering how far this place is to Konoha proper... This is a pretty good evacuation site."
"This is my home," Sasuke's knuckles crush, grinding against each other, while he brings Naruto's face closer to his own.
At this, Naruto does turn his face away, to scoff, "Not since you left."
Sasuke doesn't know whether to let go and sock him or to keep his grip and headbutt him.
"You dropped everything. Left no instructions for this place," Naruto continues, eyes full of challenge now. "Just up and stormed off. You should be more surprised if this place is empty still, by this time."
"They have no right," His hot forehead is almost resting against Naruto's, blond locks touching it in cooling sweeps, colder than the wind blowing around them. His dark gaze is still trained on his friend's face.
"Probably." Naruto sends him a sheepish grin, apologetic for something he has no hand in, "But you know, it's the most intact place people could relocate to while Konoha is being repaired."
"I am here now," The anger is slowly ebbing away, blown away by Naruto's rare instances of insight.
"Two and a half years. Later." Naruto stares at him like it's obvious, like he's explaining time to a child.
Though his anger subsides, in the face of Naruto's non-reactiveness, parts of him refuses to give up the vestiges of his past. Lamenting and crying out at the strangers ruining his clan's homes. "It is still mine."
Naruto's arm is occupied by the stuffed toy and they both know his other arm would be grasping Sasuke's own, still aggressively holding his shirt, had he the capability. "You should take it as a welcoming. I mean, your goal was to repopulate the district, right? Well, they're populating it now," Naruto smiles up at him, back to almost normal levels of happiness and sunshine. It is irritatingly bright this up close, but it deflates the rest of Sasuke's rage.
"Dumbass that's not," Sasuke starts, stops when Naruto breaks eye contact to look over his right shoulder as footsteps near them.
"Um," A hesitant voice has them separating, Naruto stepping back and Sasuke turning with a slight step forward. The voice matches the brunette standing before them. Her face is homely, on the mousey side yet still beautiful. Plump in the right places and thin in others. Her green eyes shine with hope, though her body language still broadcasts nerves, "Are you guys looking for a place to stay?"
She jumps at Sasuke's glower, looking uncertain until Naruto says, "No."
"Ah," Her gaze stays on Naruto, feeling safer in his, no doubt, friendly demeanor, "Then you're visiting someone?"
Sasuke glares harder, which she completely ignores, stopping only when Naruto's unforgiving finger pokes him right in the middle of his back, a little higher than where he'd toed Naruto days ago in his hospital room.
"Oh, no," Naruto says, voice innocently unaffected to Sasuke's flinch, "we're just passing by."
She visibly wilts, her eyes still shining with emotion towards the other male.
"We work for Hokage-sama," Naruto takes mercy on her shy, curious glances. "It's nice to see you guys settling in."
Her face blossoms into a gorgeous smile, not as elegant as his mother's or striking like Sakura, but enough that it brings attention to her feminine charms, sending Sasuke's gut twisting. "Yes, we are! The houses are in great shape and the utilities are finally..."
And Sasuke tunes her out, feeling sick and upset at everything. She shines joyful amidst his clan's legacy, oblivious to Konoha's role in their demise. Too boisterous in the chaos she and their presence brings in the order that once ruled the Uchiha compound.
She chirps on and on with Naruto's rasping voice responding mostly positive and only a step below eager, and Sasuke's body begins thrumming in pain. Head pounding with a headache and body increasingly throbbing, he pivots to walk around Naruto, opening the backpack to rummage for the pills.
He knocks back one and closes his eyes, head tilted up to the sky, letting gravity help the circular object slide down his throat. Lets his eyes rest while his hair brushes against his cheeks in tune with the earthy breeze that almost always runs through Konoha.
"You okay?" A hot breath fans on his neck, urging Sasuke to open his eyes a sliver.
Naruto stays in his space, even when Sasuke opens his eyes fully. "Personal space, idiot."
"Checkin' if you're still breathing," Naruto flippantly replies with a shit eating grin, close enough for Sasuke to count his eyelashes and see the blood filled cracks on his lips.
Sasuke elbows him in the gut, pushing him out of the way to reach for the plant. "Where's your girlfriend?"
"Very funny. Not." The backpack makes a dull thud when Naruto drops it, kneeling beside it with the toy still tightly clutched to his chest. He looks ridiculous as he, unsuccessfully, forces the toy into it with one hand.
"You know...I used to hate seeing stuff like that too," Naruto pauses his effort, continues talking without looking, "Like, how come they get to be so happy and shit while I was always, always sad and alone. I hated them for ignoring me, or staring at me with so much disgust or something in their eyes. I didn't get it.
"Then I noticed that you, too, usually didn't have anyone to pick you up or smile at you for a good day done at the Academy." Tan fingers fiddle with grey fabric, "but even you, sometimes, had Itachi. I was... I hated everyone."
The chatter around them hushes, fading in the melancholic tone of Naruto's words.
"But it just pushed me to make bonds as much as possible. It wasn't always successful, most of them weren't, but it lessened some of the feelings."
"And now?" Sasuke asks, although he already knows the answer.
He gets an earnest smile, "I have you, Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, 'baa-chan and everyone else who matters so those feelings only comes back whenever I remember how it was."
"Hn."
"I don't hang on though. I feel that it's kinda a waste to stick to the negative. Be happy when things turn up good, sad when they don't. But never linger on the bad, 'cause I wouldn't have chased after you if I had."
Naruto's blue eyes dances when the light hits it while he looks up at Sasuke, catches something in Sasuke's throat that feels scratchy and burns all the way to his sternum. Sensation lingering there just as their eyes hold each other, familiar in feeling but different in cause. Identical to the many times they've had eye contact, but completely unlike in weight.
Similar in stubbornness, but different in philosophy.
Rightfully so.
The feeling grows with each blink they take but still maintain eye contact, partly in competition though mostly in importance.
The burning in his chest grows with each blink they don't break away.
Until relief comes in the form of clouds obscuring the bright sunlight and Naruto returning to his task. Colorful cusses drowning out anything else as his efforts fail.
"You just gonna watch?" Naruto asks after the fifth time of the toy popping out of its confines while he tries to close the top.
"Maybe."
"Jerk."
"The entertainment factor alone makes me hesitate," Sasuke takes pity on him by pulling the backpack's opening in the opposite direction of Naruto's push. Closing it while Naruto's hand holds the toy still.
"Sadist."
Miffed blues clash with his, once again an arms length separated.
"Only because you are a masochist."
"Am not!" Naruto stands, makes an about-face, treading outside the boundaries of the compound.
They stand, divided by an open gate. Naruto looking to the side in an irritated huff, arm clasping the pack strap with a deathgrip. Sasuke standing in the presence of old memories yelling for attention just as new ones are being created.
"You coming?" Naruto's electric blue flickers to him, foot tapping the floor in impatience, sunlight dappling his skin.
Sasuke takes a deep, deep breath, picking up the ignored plant before he takes a step, two when Naruto's face lights up in response.
It's not a sigh.
But it makes his ribs creak in adjustment and calms his mind just the same.
