Chapter twelve: The tough part

There he was, staring at a person he once hated, at a certain point had partially liked, envied and needed around to push himself further in his skills. The toughest person to be honest to, the person he almost killed werent it for Sakura's quick actions and his techniques. Sure he had helped saving him, but he had almost also helped him to the second world.

"I'm sorry..." He heard himself whisper before he even realised it. But he gave into the feeling of remorse and guilt.

"I'm so sorry.. So incredibly sorry.." He closed his eyes and felt tears once again well up in the corners of his eyes like they had done every time he had thought about it.

"So sorry.."

"Not dead.. not dying.. just asleep." Naruto's heart skipped a beat at the low soft voice.

"Untill an idiot came here and woke me up."

Naruto opened his eyes and wiped his eyes quickly before sasuke could see that he had been crying over him. He tried to summon his chakra to his eyes to make the redness go away and he cursed inside as he realised again that Kakashi had placed a seal on him to prevent him from using even the tiniest bit.

Sasuke tried to sit up but groaned loudly.

"Damn it.. " He hissed as he whinced at the pain that shot through his body. He found a position comfortable enough and slowly turned his head to look at naruto.

"What are you doing here?" He growled.

"How long have you been awake?" Naruto asked him slightly panicked. Did he hear all this?

"Not long."

"Did.. did you hear what I said?"

"Yes and no. Yes, because your voice woke me up and no, because i figured my head was delusional from the sleep."

"What?"

"Jeez.." He slid a hand through his hair, smoothing down one of the long spikes in his black hair. "You are sorry?"

"Um.. ah.." Say it stupid! Naruto yelled at himself. "Yeah. I'm um.. sorry."

"You sounded a lot more confident a second ago."

Naruto said nothing and stared at the suddenly very interesting teal floor.

"Whatever." He groaned again. "Was nice going anyway."

".... Sorry.."

"Yeah well.." Sasuke fell silent as well.

For a minute long, seemingly an hour, they just looked at everything but eachother. Wow, nice white curtains and oh look, i didnt know roses came in purple too.

Finally naruto dared to look at sasuke again, a bit more confident now that the redness in his eyes seemed to have gone and he had said it didnt he? Sort of..

Sasuke was still looking at the opposite wall and didnt seem to have any plans to look at him any time soon. He sighed and shook his head, looking like he was having a major internal discussion as well.

"I should be going then." Naruto said as he got up. This tension was wearing him out, he had said it, what the hell was he doing there now anyway, there wasnt any reason to remain in the small room, he thought as he got up from his chair. But as he got to the door, sasuke mumbled something that got his attention. He rarely spoke in situations like this so if he said something, it probably was something important.

"What?"

He turned around to look at sasuke, amazed that the young man had a small blush spread on his cheeks and was looking to his seat with a face that looked like he had said something very shameful.

"Well.. um.. I'm sorry too. I guess." He stammered.

Naruto was too frozen in his tracks to even chuckle at the way he had said it or to even take a step outside. He let go of the door and stared at the dark-haired shinobi in front of him, blushing like mad. Sasuke had said sorry? The prince had said sorry? It was almost too incredible to fully understand it. He had never heard him say it like this, with such a face. He could almost call it cute, seeing how the cold facade had dropped away for a second.

Then it hit him. He was saying sorry? Why the hell was he saying sorry?

"Why are you saying you are sorry?" Naruto softly said, walking back to his chair, dodging the roses that were hanging limb from their vases. "I mean.. I almost killed you.. I should be the one saying sorry untill my throat hurts."

"I guess you should yeah."

Naruto sighed, to hell with his sense of pride then.

"Alright then. Sorry, sorry sorry sorry!" He stopped and looked at sasuke, refusing to say anymore. This was having a serious impact on his pride..

"Does your throat hurt already?" Sasuke asked him, trying to supress a smile pulling on the corners of his mouth. It turned into a vicious smirk instead, be it a very very fragile smirk. This was precious.

"NO! Oh man.. Sorry, sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry... keh..'. He coughed slightly, realising just how stupid this must sound to Sasuke, however it was even more stupid to his own ears since he was the only who knew who he really was and who he was talking to. "Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry... cough sorry sorry sorry sorry... sor.. what the.."

He stopped his torrent of sorry's as he realised sasuke was chuckling, the soft deep voice resonating in the small room.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke snickered before he gave in laughing out loud, feeling his body cave in under the sheer pressure of the sight before him, this new guy saying sorry so many times that he couldnt have seen a more serious case of damaged pride on the man's face.

Even though the wounds were gone, the muscles underneath his skin were still partially torn and every time he had to take a breath he held his stomach in pain, his face in a grimace and tears streaming down his face. But wether they came from the pain or the incredibly stupid face Naruto made with the idiotic overkill on apologies, he couldnt tell and for that moment, he didnt care anyway.

"No idiot!" Naruto felt his mouth quirk up as well at the stupidity of the situation. "I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry."

He looked up to face Naruto, his face wet from the tears and his eyes red and hot. He swore for a second that Naruto showed a second of concern before he noticed he was having trouble keeping a straight face himself. It was too absurd not to laugh now.

"Stop it! Sorry."

"Sorry."

Naruto couldnt control himself anymore and starting chuckling at first but it quickly turned into loud laughter as well.

"Quit it!" He managed to squeek between the gasps for air as he couldnt stop laughing anymore.

Laughing is contagious, and Sasuke realised that very well. And somehow, the laughter of this brown-haired new guy in front of him was filling him with energy by the mere sound of it.

"Okay okay, i'm sorry!"

Sasuke stopped for a second and tried to put up a serious face again. Naruto tried the same. But as soon as they looked in eachothers eyes again, neither could contain himself and they started snickering like boys again. Naruto sniffed for a second as he realised something. For a part, this felt like old times again when he had fun with his friends and could laugh for the most stupid of reasons. On the other hand, this was sasuke and he had never heard sasuke laugh in this way before and he wondered if anyone did ever. But this sasuke didnt know he was naruto. To him, he was the new guy who nearly killed him and here he was laughing with him. It was almost surreal and dreamlike, the heap of flowers and the sound of his voice only adding to that.

Sasuke never acted this way. He never had laughed in front of him, he had hardly shown a smile when Naruto was still around. A smirk maybe, especially when they had won a battle, but it was never a smile, let alone this situation with him laughing with a guy who had tried to kill him, be it by accident, only a day before.

Naruto slowly felt silent as he watched the man in front of him chuckle and sometimes cringe with pain. He really had tried to kill him. He didnt mean it, it was just a reflex, a matter of instinct instead intend. It almost instantly made him feel incredibly guilty and he dropped the smile from his lips. Was he diffirent now after all these years? Was sasuke diffirent also, seeing how he acted now? Had he already and again destroyed the friendship he wanted to have with him, no matter how much a pain in the ass he used to be?

For an instant he feared the latter as he saw sasuke cough loudly, groan in pain and dropping the laughing altogether to fall back into his serious mood again, now however mixed with red teary eyes from sheer pain. He let out a deep sigh and looked at Naruto from underneath his lose dark locks of hair. It felt like a glare to naruto and he almost regretted taking advantage of the situation to make sasuke forgive him by seeing the irony of the situation.

Naruto let out a deep sigh. It wasnt up to him now. If sasuke hated him from now on, he was quite right in doing so. If he wanted to go on where they left off and forget about the whole situation, Naruto would be more than happy to accept that and do his best.

Instantly, he raised an eyebrow. Since when had he wanted to become friends with him anyway? Well, he immediately thought after, seems like sasuke and he himself had changed, or at least thats what he hoped for that happened. Maybe, just maybe, we can start all over again.

"Well.. You know.. I'm really sorry."

"Whatever." Came the cold and somehow predictable reply of sasuke. Heh, so much for a change..

"Hm." Naruto looked away as he got up from his chair. Forget about it, he's still the same jerk, just ignore him like you always used to do alright?

"I'll get you for this though. Ranaku." Sasuke looked up at him, sliding a hand over his stomach. "I swear that if you make me laugh like that again while my muscles are torn up like this, i will kill you."

"I won't tear them up again."

"Huh?"

"That's too easy. I expect a real fight next time." Naruto added with a grin and looked at sasuke with a surprised look on his face. To his relief, it turned into a smirk quickly and the familiar sasuke once again showed himself, the only old part Naruto never could quite get enough of. His challenging side.