A/N: Happy birthday, Naruto.

October 10, 2014

The Sky

by Hic Iacet Mori

Chapter 32

Up in the sky, the commas of the lone eye stretched out like tendrils of shadows, drawing outward and spreading even as they converged in the middle, revealing a red starburst around the pupil that reminded Sasuke of a pinwheel.

A pinwheel, he mused, his own eyes morphing to its design, only makes sense when the wind is around.

He immediately shot forward, Mangekyou Sharingan easily sighting what was invisible to even his own Sharingan. Ahead of him was Naruto nearly flying over the still waters, too impossibly fast to leave a ripple or two on clear blue or even leave a flash of color despite the impressive length of gold swaying over his back. He also gave no indication of slowing down before abruptly swerving to the left, then seemingly changing his mind and crossing to the right without pause, or going straight ahead to a direction he himself didn't seem to be clear about, rendering the idea of intercepting him inutile.

Naruto, Sasuke divined through his eyes of insight, was simply going by an instinct that propelled him to move and move fast.

Like air.

In the absence of the wind Naruto had become the air—invisible, untouchable, imperceptible, moving too fast its motion escapes detection. Never leaving an indication of its coming and going. Hardly noticed it was there but always known if it wasn't. Its presence taken for granted, its absence a matter of life and death.

(he wasn't sure his thoughts were false)

Too intent on not losing sight of the billowing hair of sunshine, Sasuke failed to see where the chase had brought him—it was the sudden, instinctive adjustment of the chakra on his feet that alerted him of a difference in surface. He glanced down in surprise, a split second of inattention that cost him his quarry. He had reached Naruto's destination and he was standing on—

Grass.

He glanced up and inhaled sharply, turning around with widening, disbelieving eyes as he took in the panorama. He was on the other side of the lake, that much was clear, but he realized to his bewilderment that the scenery is an exact copy of the meadow they were previously in.

Like he hadn't left at all.

There was even a tree—a tree that looked the same and on the exact same spot it had been in on his side of the lake during the past ten years, before it vanished beneath his Sharingan and revealed his own self and Naruto frozen in time. Immediately remembering how he came about that discovery, he quickly appeared by the tree and turned around in the same heartbeat.

He caught his breath. A familiar dock greeted him, a wooden sanctuary over the crystalline stillness of the lake reflecting the Sharingan in Mangekyou form floating in the sky.

He exhaled slowly. How hadn't he known this place existed? But then again—he briefly looked up again, the pinwheel mocking him—he didn't know the lake and dock existed until Itachi pointed it out to him last night...

But how had Naruto known?

He caught a flash in his periphery. Without thinking, Sasuke swiftly turned back and scaled the tree, racing up the trunk to the branches in five—four—three—two—

Naruto turned around just as Sasuke lunged for a rope of gold, hind foot inching back as he delivered an inelegant front kick to the predator on the branch below. The kick clearly ineffectual, Naruto jumped to a branch above him and Sasuke followed suit, and soon they were jumping from one branch to the other, higher and higher as the former cussed and the latter chased. It would have been amusing at any other time, running after an unhappy idiot, but to Sasuke's growing frustration the long yellow hair was always just beyond his reach—it fluttered before him like temptation, and he grimly promised himself he would yank it well and good until Naruto's head snapped back and all thoughts of moving or running away from Sasuke snapped out of his thick, stubborn head.

They reached the highest branch almost at the same time. Naruto's eyes showed exasperation even as he took swift, calculating glances at the view afforded by the height they reached. Sasuke bit down on the demands at the tip of his tongue—what was Naruto looking for, why did he come here, how did he know of this place's existence?—because he knew the man would not answer him, else Naruto would have informed him before vanishing from his sight.

If he hadn't felt so certain of Naruto's presence earlier, Sasuke didn't know what he'd have done. If he were a lesser man, he was certain he would have succumbed and there would be no going back.

There wouldn't be a point anymore.

As if hearing Sasuke's thoughts, blue eyes immediately returned to him. "I know what you're thinking," declared Naruto.

Sasuke watched him with a neutral expression, waiting for an opening.

"But I'm not gonna say it because you already know what you're thinking so there's no point in saying what I know you're thinking and now you know that I know what you're thinking and I know that you know that I know what you're thinking now we're thinking of the same thing and I know you like my hair 'coz you've been trying to touch it for a while now so now you know that I know you like my hair—"

What the actual fuck.

"—and you probably think I'm crazy and I know you probably think I'm crazy so I'll go full crazy and stop thinking dattebayoooo!"

Naruto jumped at his last word, an arm pulled back with a fully-formed sphere of wind rotating on his palm. Sasuke darted forward in surprise, cursing himself for being distracted so easily by inane blather, urging his legs to go faster because he knew, just knew, that he couldn't allow it to connect with Naruto's intended target if he only knew what it is.

"Fuuton: Rasengan!"

The blood-red pinwheel began spinning and Sasuke saw what Naruto had been seeking—

(apogee—the farthest point, the highest point)

Naruto had come to the edge of the world of skies so he could attack its weakest and destroy it.

Sasuke barely recognized his own roar.

An explosion of speed and he was an arm's length to a fringe of gold. He reached forward with a savage yank, and a sadistic burst of satisfaction gleamed in his eyes when Naruto shrieked. Sasuke swiftly rotated his fist, pulling Naruto backwards like a marionette to its owner, forcing the man closer with each twist, each yell, in a tug-of-war with the prize of Naruto's head.

"You asshole!"

Too late did Sasuke see Naruto reshape his Rasengan—the spiraling sphere had turned into a blade, which Naruto used to cut his own hair by the nape before immediately twisting backward, then launching himself forward to Sasuke with a garbled war cry.

Shorn from their owner, the gold strands in Sasuke's hand vanished as they reached the ground.

Sasuke caught the punch aimed straight between his eyes. He gritted his teeth as he slid back at the force, taking more than a second to find his own traction and refusing to release the trapped fist. Naruto loomed over him, blue lights dancing with a shit-eating grin on his face—the desire to wipe that grin was extremely strong, giving Sasuke the motivation to dig his own feet before raising his left leg to knee the other in the gut. Naruto swiftly caught it with his unoccupied left hand, cursing when Sasuke propelled him backward on one leg with a flare of chakra until his back was against the tree, practically drilling him into the trunk.

For a moment all that moved were their chests, pressed against each other, rising and falling evenly as if they were caught in a dream.

Sasuke's own heart, though, was beating too fast—

"Um," Naruto started, his breath gently raising a curtain of dark hair, "Psych?"

Sasuke glowered, his grip tightening on the other's fist until he heard ligaments popping. That lopsided smile—How dare he. How dare he make light of this.

Naruto's grin slowly faded at Sasuke's thunderous look, his eyes darkening a shade as his expression turned somber. "Teme. I have to do this. Kyuu-bun wasn't lying, I can't stay—"

With his free hand, Sasuke furiously grabbed Naruto by the throat and slammed him against the tree. Naruto hissed when the back of his head collided against the trunk, failing to notice Sasuke's knee lowering so the latter could move forward, move closer, until he was standing between Naruto's legs—chest to chest, thigh to thigh, closing in on the whiskered face until their noses almost touched, until their breathing nearly stopped.

Until Sasuke saw the tints of sky that made Naruto's eyes.

"Everything you put me through," he started lowly, his voice a cold caress against the warmth cradling him, soothing him, pacifying his rage with unwantedly wanted contact, "Since Day One you returned—" red eyes hardened, "I hate you."

Naruto's eyes searched him, their light slowly dimming as they held Sasuke's own. Blue eyes finally lowered, and the bleakness he glimpsed within struck Sasuke like a blow.

"I know."

"No, you don't." The fist around the throat unwound to grasp down on folds of orange, constricting in leashed anger, words spilling out of his loosening mouth like water from a broken dam, "You have no idea what you put me through," he said tightly, "You appeared out of nowhere then proceeded to pull everyone in like a damned sun like it's your business. Even me."

His eyes widened at his last words, horrified at what he just blurted out. Naruto froze at his admission, and Sasuke felt heat spreading on his nape, his righteous anger sputtering into an emotion suddenly tight in his throat.

Naruto may not see it but Sasuke couldn't hide from him how hot he felt right now.

"I wanted you." Shit. Shit. "When I thought you were a woman, I wanted you." Shit fuck.

He didn't mean to say these things. He wasn't even thinking of them!

"The first time I saw you, in the Hokage's office, I wanted—to know you," Sasuke amended, playing off his earlier words as slips of the tongue. The fire burning a path to his ears discredited his half-truth. "I felt that I should know you. Everyone knew you, and you seem to know everyone but me, and I—wanted you to know me too."

These thoughts—he didn't want these thoughts. He didn't want to think of Naruto like this, as if Sasuke wanted something more than the relationship that existed between them before vengeance got in the way. He didn't want to think what it could possibly mean, didn't want to bring it into words and breathe reality to it, but his mouth refused to stop running the way his heart was intent on doing so, as if Sasuke had to prove that the hate he had declared was justified, that Sasuke hated Naruto because he didn't really hate Naruto despite the lies, that at one point what he felt was the furthest from hate that he had ever felt in ten years.

(didn't want to, didn't mean to, but it was out there in the open and he couldn't pretend it wasn't there anymore)

He exhaled a shattered breath. "I opened up to you," he continued, and it was one of the hardest admissions he had ever made. Sasuke didn't open up, much less say he did. The rare times he opened up he did so indifferently. It had to look inconsequential, had to look like he wasn't seeking approval or comfort or understanding when it was all he could do to shatter at a truth he just bared. He couldn't let anyone see him at his frailest. Couldn't let anyone have such power over him. "Told you I don't want to be alone and you—you promised—"

"We can be alone together," Naruto murmured. His head bowed, yellow strands hiding him. "In the meantime—we can be alone together."

Sasuke felt himself shake at the depths of vulnerability he had shown. He cut himself off with a pathetic laugh before he could blurt out that the thought that Naruto preferred women sickened him, that Sasuke had hoped—had foolishly hoped—

I still—I still want—

Why he had said that, thought that, something so personal, so weak… What did Naruto think of him now?

"I thought I was going insane. Again." His laugh came out sharper, jagged like serrated knife, digging inside him and twisting and burning, burning hot. "It wasn't enough, was it? You have to make sure my brother finish his job and push me past the point of no return? You have to drive me crazy wondering why the hell I want to know you, why the fuck I think I should know you?"

His anger rose inside him with every word, his eyes livid as he spat out the bitter words, "Why I'm so scared of losing you and why I think I already did?" His grip on Naruto's fist grew impossibly tighter, a part of him wishing to break the other's bones so he wasn't alone in hurting. "And all along—I was right—"

He breathed out harshly. "You weren't even here, you're out there dying. And now this. Whatever this is that began ten years ago after you brought me back to Konoha," he ended in a hiss.

Naruto raised his head, and the eloquent blue mirrors caught Sasuke's breath.

"I know what this is, teme," came the lowered husky voice, unexpectedly softer than Sasuke's convictions believed, "This is you, alive—this is you living past vengeance and hatred, this is you giving yourself a chance."

This again—

Naruto's breath hitched, and Sasuke realized the blue were too liquid to be mirrors, mesmerizing him into stillness. "I don't regret what I did, not when you're standing in front of me. I'll always go back to that." Another hitch and liquid blue surged and ebbed like the tide against the moon. "My only regret… is that it hurt you that you don't remember. I hurt you, didn't I? I hurt you, and that's the last thing I want. I didn't expect that to happen." Naruto's eyes rapidly blinked as he laughed. "You're not supposed to care."

I'm not hurt, he wanted to say. Sasuke knew it wasn't true but he's not hurt, moron, don't flatter yourself. He couldn't, however, so he pushed back and pulled Naruto forward a beat after the other instead, and drilled his fist into the other's gut until the discordant laugh tapered into an honest grunt.

"Forever the bastard," Naruto wheezed, eyes shooting a watery glare at odds with the amused snarl of his mouth. "Felt real so I guess I owe you, heh."

Sasuke's brows furrowed. Real?

"My Kurama bunshin," Naruto started, straightening up with a last cough as much as he could. Sasuke dropped his hold on Naruto's collar with reluctance. "Kyuu-bun—he's more of Kurama when he dispelled." The blue glance jolted Sasuke far more than the serious words, tripped his heart when the blue curved into arcs beneath golden eyebrows. "I think I understand now—the things he did—though I'm not exactly jumping for joy, the manipulative old fox—

"Anou, Sasuke… you got weird?" Naruto's eyes were open once more and he was smiling, and Sasuke found his breath had frozen in his chest, as if the mere act could pause the scene and he could revel in it for as long as he wanted, "Weirder, I mean. I'm not sure if it's a good thing but… it's, I guess, nice. That you're—more open now, I mean. Or maybe I'm just assuming, I—I've always hoped you'd become open—if even just… to me…

"I still remember it like yesterday," Naruto started with a huff of laughter, "but I guess it is just yesterday for me. The me here, y'know—fucking confusing, there's so much of me to keep track of, I'm still assimilating the past six days of Kyuu-bun plus earlier too, before you got here—I mean we got here—and woke you and me up, and the last ten years you said you had, it's still just yesterday to me. I can still see you on that bed, and you're actually smiling and I want to—to pretend that it's because you're happy to see me but that's—impossible, you're never ever that with me. With anyone, actually, but especially me, you used to tell me to piss off but you're—in the hospital, you're smiling—and—and—"

Naruto swallowed, and his eyes shone opaque like the still lake by the dock where Sasuke-chan sat and remembered the family he had lost, "—you called me. You called my name."

Naruto briefly closed his eyes as Sasuke tasted the bittersweet words—the taste thick in his tongue, the words hot in his throat. "You looked happy, teme. So damned happy saying my name it just—Even now, Sasuke," Naruto expelled in a shaky breath, licking his bottom lip and swallowing anew, smile quivering like the wings of a dying butterfly—

"—you break me, you know that?"

Sasuke had thought, in the quiet of his mind, that Naruto got the better end of the deal when he sealed Sasuke's memories. That Naruto actually wanted to unburden himself of him, and seized his chance on the pretense that Sasuke had attempted to kill himself. A part of him hoped that Naruto hadn't wanted to—that it hurt Naruto, even a little, to be forgotten by him. That he suffered in some way, like Sasuke now suffered with the knowledge that a great part of him was beyond his grasp.

"I'd never admit it a long time ago but now—"

Sasuke had hoped—and thought he would bask in grim, smug vindication if Naruto suffered as well.

"—I don't care."

His eyesight blurred, bathing Naruto in a soft glow. Sasuke was vindicated but there was no joy, none, in knowing that sealing Sasuke's memories of him hurt Naruto far more than he could imagine. There was no happiness in knowing the truth.

"All this time..."

The truth that Naruto was devastated.

"All this time... and you still do."

Sasuke lifted his mouth in a shaky smirk, staunching his body's want to gasp out in pain, muttering instead in a husky voice, "Turnabout's fair play. Na, dobe?"

Naruto's answering laugh hitched all over the place. "See? Weirder." He snorted lightly, sniffling a beat later into the sleeve of his shirt. "I remember you'd rather die than admit crap like that before. I also remember you'd rather kill me than admit you think of me as a friend. I remember—" his voice cracked, "I remember a lot—"

His face finally crumpled, crumbling like a deceptively strong castle made of sand all along. He was unraveling and Sasuke was in front of him, unraveling thread by thread with him. "I wish I was there. Even though you don't remember—Those ten years you had... I wish I was there. But I—but I—" He rapidly shook his head, cut himself off with a great breath, "I'm a coward!"

His voice shook as his fists trembled. "Knowing you don't remember… Even just thinking of—of standing in front of you and—and knowing you'll see through me, past me, because you don't—remember—"

Naruto opened his mouth wide and gasped for desperate air, "I thought I can bear it, as hard I know it'd be I thought I can bear it. I've endured a hell lot, y'know? People wouldn't acknowledge my existence before, didn't care if I'm alive or not or barely getting by—I'm used to it, I've lived with it since I was a kid. Survived it and changed their fucking minds. What's another person, right?" His chuckle came out choking, "Right?

"Then you called my name—" Naruto clamped on his bottom lip, his mouth pressing against each other as his eyes shone brighter and brighter and he blinked faster and faster, lifted his head to the sky with a quick, wet exhale. His tongue pushed against his cheek, his teeth, before licking his lips and swallowing to steady his words, "My fucking name—"

His voice breaking—

"—and there was nothing behind it—"

"I called you by name. I didn't remember you—but I sure did want to."

Naruto raised his hands, pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes. "What's another one, hah! Famous last words. I'm really an idiot, na?" He scoffed wetly at himself. "I screwed up the first sealing, somehow screwed the second too. Fainted like a little bitch and woke up here of all existing dimensions and worlds, with Kyuu-bun of many many years and many many memories… And you—holding me with your twin, and taller, and kinda whiter, and pissed and even kind of desperate, and wanting to remember when all you've wanted—"

Sasuke's inhaled sharply, the fire in his throat razing to his lungs. All I wanted—?

Naruto rapidly shook his head, cutting himself off. "How'd you know my name—I guess I'll never know that, huh? It's just going to be one more question I'll never get an answer to." He swallowed thickly. "Not knowing important things—not a fun feeling at all. I get why you're pissed at me. I'd be pissed too so I guess... I guess..."

He turned to Sasuke with wet, determined eyes, shoulders squaring as he took a deep breath. Sasuke inwardly gasped as a shiver jolted up his spine. That determination—he knew that. He had often been the recipient of such determined eyes.

"Kyuu-bun—me—I knew you were there," Naruto began haltingly, "By the Heroes' Memorial, I knew you were there. I couldn't sense you but—I know when you're around. It's just a feeling I get. Y'know?" Despite the tightness in his gut, Sasuke's stomach flipped at the admission. Naruto went on, "Remember what Kakashi-sensei said? That it's okay to be selfish, and weak?"

"There's nothing wrong with being selfish. And there's nothing wrong with admitting to being weak."

"Sakura-chan told me to be a bit more selfish, before. Didn't make sense to me. I'm not afraid to admit I'm selfish. I'm so selfish, y'know, I keep going after everyone who didn't want anything to do with me. Even you. Especially you. No wonder you hated me, I can't take no for an answer—I'm so selfish I can't let go. I'm not selfless, where'd she get that, na?"

"I've been selfish and weak too many times already, sensei."

"And Sai wanted me to show him when I'm weak. Said he'd comfort me, to rely on him for that, he'd carry me when I'm too weak to stand anymore. I'm not the strongest, I know, never said I was. Hell, it's a pain to admit this, I like to think I get stronger and stronger but someone always had to save my ass. It's always you before everything. So why'd he think he had to say that? Huh?"

"Selfish enough to be the only one remembering, na?"

"I think—"

Naruto exhaled a slow breath.

"—I get it now."

The sky behind Naruto suddenly rippled. It was a pond skimmed by stone, a halo of glowing light growing into rings that slowly encompassed the horizon. As the rings multiplied, a light from the center slowly unfurled like a blossom, shifting the blue of the sky outwards until the center gleamed a translucent blue, the blue darkening to its normal hue the further the rings grew until the ripples itself faded and vanished.

And then, as if hands had caught the edges of the fabric of the sky, the translucent center tore apart to reveal a diminishing, tattered seal.

Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Naruto? You're Naruto, right?" Naruto was looking up, beholding the seal with a faraway expression. "I'm home now, the rain's supposed to stop. Naruto? Make it stop. I don't like it." Looking at him now, with a heartbreaking smile. "You said them in the hospital. You didn't know who I was but you—you know—"

"—Naruto," Sasuke murmured thickly, watched as a patch of the seal crumbled against the pale sky.

A jerky nod. "Wasn't supposed to happen like that. We're supposed to meet for the—for the first time, that time. No," He shook his head. "We're not supposed to meet there at all. I'm supposed to know when you wake up so I—I'm not around when you do, but stupid Sai—"

Naruto sighed, stopping himself before closing his eyes, breathing deeply, and continuing with an outstretched hand and a smile that belied shining sapphire eyes, "Hi, I'm Naruto, we were teammates before." His voice cracked at a word, teammates, before he cleared his own throat and bravely plodded on, his eyes dazzling with light and threatening to overflow, "I know, it's been a long time, so it's okay you don't remember. Don't worry, it will come to you. If you need anything, you can—you can tell me..."

Sasuke swallowed convulsively. He would have taken that hand. He would have and not known how much it took Naruto to lie to himself, to him.

Naruto withdrew his hand, clenched it into a fist. "It was supposed to be like that. You'll remember me after that, little by little, but it will be different. It's supposed to be different, it's how it's supposed to work but—despite the sealing… You knew my name, remembered it somehow and worse, associated it with me so I—so I have to…"

Naruto gestured to the sky with an almost helpless smile, closed his eyes as more of the ten year-old seal tore off and crumbled. "I have to," he repeated quietly.

The three words rang in the silence with regretful finality.

Sasuke's low words were a scream in the dark. "So you performed another sealing, enacted that law." His eyes closed. "And left."

"I couldn't risk failing again," said Naruto tiredly. "The first seemed to work, except you remembered my name… and quickly associated it to my voice, me. The second sealing, in the hospital, I can't leave to chance like that. What if—you saw me and that... triggers something? What if you hear my name so soon, would it cancel the second seal, remind you it's me? And if the second seal fails, would it affect the first? Make you remember?"

Naruto turned to Sasuke with sad eyes, a plea in them for understanding that wasn't forthcoming. "The memory seal wasn't just to stop you. It's also an assurance, my assurance. To Baa-chan. The council." He nodded, as if assuring himself, for a thousandth time. "It's your shield against TI, they're a scary bunch, you know? And—" Blue eyes slowly firmed with resolve. "It's the closure you needed. Your shot at a new beginning.

"I couldn't mess up those things, so I have to seal my name from you too. That moment you called out to me, after waking from your coma, I know I couldn't stay. At least, not for a while." He looked down at his hands like he was seeing them for the first time. In a way, he was. "I didn't think I'd be staying away for a long time, though. Time flies so fast. Who thought going after some undead mass-murdering psychopaths rampaging halfway around the world would take a decade, huh?" Naruto's mouth lifted in a wry grin. "I guess sleeping through most of it is why."

"So you," Sasuke started, repeating Naruto in his own words, "performed another seal to block your name from my mind. Because you're worried your name can negate the first seal. And you performed the first sealing—the memory sealing—to stop me. Because I wanted to die."

"… Aa."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "I've been loyal to Konoha for years. To the Hokage. I was cleared by TI and those—misguided council members had long been dead," he said with a touch of contempt—he had despised those old fools for their part in the massacre of his family and, given a chance, he would bury them six feet into the ground, kept alive for eternity, "I got that shot," he continued, his eyes darkening in intensity, capturing Naruto's own to ensure there was no room for misunderstanding, "and I no longer want to kill myself, Naruto. It hasn't crossed my mind in years.

"Can you release the memory seal now?" he asked, his heart a drumbeat in his throat.

Naruto closed his eyes and Sasuke felt the loss acutely. "That's the thing, Sasuke—

"I can't."

Sasuke's blood froze.

"Only you can," Naruto went on. He glanced back and gestured to the sky where the remaining corner of the seal was further eroding. "This second seal, Naruto Fuuin—named after me, 'course, I sealed my name from you... You've been destroying it. It's only a matter of seconds now. It's practically useless at this point, honestly," he confessed. "Not because you know the name now, or that it's mine, but—"

Another chip, another crumble.

"—maybe, you're beginning to realize… why you remembered it before. Why you didn't want to forget it. Or maybe why you called it out to me, even when you're not supposed to know…"

Another of the seal falling into dust.

"I don't know how you did it, or why, just that I have to fix it. I was under pressure when I made the seal, I only had a small window between Sai leaving to get Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei reaching your room. It's a miracle this seal held so long... But then again, I had that law…"

Naruto turned back to him. "When Naruto Fuuin disappears, though… Sasuke, you get a key to unlock the memory seal."

He raised his hand anew. Behind the remnant of Naruto Fuuin glowed a thin, faint outline, nearly invisible beneath the shadow of the dying seal. Sasuke flinched at the sudden, answering throb in his head, his eyes pinching at the pain spiking on his crown.

"And—there," Naruto whispered as the last of the seal fell.

Sasuke's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"All talk and no action."

"Shut up! Taste this action, you asshole!"

It was sunny and hot and late in the afternoon, his chest rising and falling as he breathed deeply from exertion in a drawn-out spar—a spar with hot-headed, clumsy, relentless Naruto, and it was no wonder to him now that Sasuke smiled.

"Hn. Make sure to stock on your rubbish next time."

"It's not rubbish, you bastard! Besides, you should be grateful for the privilege of eating breakfast with me, not everyone can boast that."

"That's disgusting, idiot."

"And you're a prissy host, for real. Milk's best straight from the carto—burp!"

"You're replacing that."

"If I knew I'm paying for your stupid milk then you should've just got me ramen!"

"Not my fault you're a moron. Go to Kakashi or Sakura. I'm not buying you ramen."

Too damned early in the morning for his patience to be tested, his head shaking in exasperation while he pretended not to listen with sleep-robbed annoyance for breakfast—a breakfast with crass, inconsiderate, boisterous Naruto, and it was no wonder to him now that Sasuke didn't really mind being woken up so early.

"Don't bother me, idiot. Tch."

"I'm just—damn it. Never mind."

"Usuratonkachi."

"Yarou! If you weren't such a thunder-stealing jerk! I was hiding for a reason, stupid asshole, you shouldn't have snuck up on me. Hell, I bet you just got lucky like that stupid Iwa chuunin, there's no way you'd find me. I hid good! You're just afraid I'd show Sakura-chan and the others who's the real ninja between us—"

"Hn. You can't hide from me. Much more hide anything from me."

"—dammit, teme! I don't... like seeing you like... like this! Okay? So heal faster so I can kick your ass!"

Walls of white around him with no hint of time, his eyes taking in the colorful sight of the other on an uncomfortable chair beside his bed as he questioned himself why someone so annoying, so bothersome, so loud and so utterly different from him could be the one to know him best, the one to understand him the most during his recovery—a recovery with impudent, stubborn, caring Naruto, and it was no wonder to him now that Sasuke didn't think twice about jumping in front of a hail of sharp weapons.

No wonder.

"Bring it on, you jerk! Anything you throw at me I'll give it back a thousand-fold!"

No wonder he pushed forward.

"So you're special, huh? You won't be so special when I'm through with you!"

No wonder he fought back.

"I never give up, I never go back on my word. That's my nindo!"

No wonder he never gave up.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and don't you forget it!"

No wonder Sasuke didn't want to forget his name.

Just as it did in this world once before, the shadow of a teammate in the memories that plagued his past days, years, gave way to color and scent and texture and sound, illumining the gray that figure had always been in.

That dark rambunctious shadow that made him frown, made him smile—

"You can actually pass for a human when you stop looking constipated. Or is this a new trick? You finally mastered henge?"

It was Naruto.

"At least I'm not always terrorizing the toilet with chronic diarrhea."

That dusky silhouette who understood his unvoiced thoughts—

"… Look, you're pouting more than usual and it's messing my ramen time. If you don't like those chicks hanging off your arms then go Katon their hair. You got no problem doing that to me."

It was Naruto.

"I. Don't. Pout."

That solid black outline who pushed him, annoyed him, inspired him, disgusted him—

"Sasukeeeeeee! Teme!"

It was Naruto.

"Usuraton—"

"—kachi," he coughed out, emotions pressing down upon him, robbing him of breath and making his head feel lighter. The knowledge that it was Naruto all this time paled vastly in the reality of those vivid, living memories. "Naruto."

"Yarou," Naruto returned silently. "Sasuke."

Crimson eyes flickered between light and shadow, memories coming alive with loose and hidden pieces slowly fitting into the incomplete puzzle that had taken shape in the past few days. Something powerful was swelling within him, warming him like a ball of sun, and his whole body shuddered with the force of it, the heat of it—Naruto was close, so close, closer than Sasuke could even touch in his mind in his body in his heart in his soul, right where he belonged in the memories pushing against each other, rising over the other as if to compete for his captive interest, his exclusive attention, adding to those he had already remembered on the night he and Naruto's bunshin walked home together—bringing a new depth, a new dimension, to each awakened memory.

"Stop calling me a dobe, yarou!"

"Are you okay… bibiri-kun?"

"And you're such a bastard!"

"Sever it just like that, huh?! Then why are you even wearing that hitai'ate?"

"How can someone who can't even save his friends become Hokage?"

"Even if we do both end up dying… at least we'll no longer be Uchiha and the Kyuubi."

"Not burdened with any of that, we'll be able to truly understand each other in the next world!"

Everything felt too fast and too slow at the same time, memories flashing past him and lingering in the same vein. His fingers were twitchy with the need to hold each memory in place, shaky with desire to carve them into his body, devour them whole, break them down into particles and freeze them in his veins—his skin was crawling with the words and his mouth was trembling with the sights and his blood was boiling with the feelings, and he very much wanted to gather his memories in his arms and possibly stay forever to treasure them all over again and he was probably on fire now, and burning, he felt so feverish and the heat kept rising and rising and rising and—

The buildup within him suddenly snapped back and vanished.

He looked down in disbelief, freezing in shock. Slowly, his hands rose up to pat himself—faster with inexplicably rising urgency. The warmth that had risen in him had settled like the sea rolling quietly against the shore, but his chest—so cold, so cold—was a gaping maw of void.

"What—" he croaked out as his fingers scrabbled on his chest, feeling the heart beneath it thump strong, loud. Empty.

It was such an empty sound, had it always been like that?

Heat was climbing into his eyes and he could do nothing to stop it, helpless as he dug his fingers in to get the painful cold out. The warmth only served to heighten its contrast against this single, solitary spot of cold—the cold ached so much it felt hotter as it burned with ruthless ice.

"I knew you were always alone."

"How?" he gasped out. His vision wavered as Naruto took a step close to him. Leaned down from a sturdy branch. Inched nearer on his knees above the dancing green grass. Stood across him in that endless space that only belonged to them, asking Sasuke if he could read what's inside his heart.

"I felt better knowing there was someone like me... I wanted to hang out with you."

Naruto in that rumpled shirt. Naruto in that jumpsuit. Naruto in that robe.

"It just made me happy!"

Naruto in his eyes.

"But I couldn't... I was jealous of how skilled you were, so I turned you into a rival."

But how?

"I wanted to be just like you."

How can it be so cold with Naruto in his eyes?

"I started with nothing... but I finally made a connection. We went on missions as Team 7, and I kept chasing you, wanting to be just as strong, just as cool."

"No," Sasuke whispered as he blindly shook his head. Something was wrong. Something was missing.

"I'm really glad I met you!"

Something was missing and the loss flooded his eyes. It was almost in his grasp, what he and Naruto had, but it slipped from his hand right before he knew it was there and he couldn't find it anymore, he couldn't see it, he had lost it, he was careless he didn't appreciate it when it was there and now it was missing, now it was gone—

"Naruto, I—I can't—"

And it throbbed, again, the emptiness in his chest.

He grabbed a wrist with unseeing eyes, pushed a fist against his own heart as he shuddered against the ice. "I can't feel. I saw you, heard you, I even smelled you. I remember you. I know you but—" he shivered, shook harder, it's so cold, so cold, "I know everything about you before but I—I don't. It's like I'm forgetting again—"

"I'll make—I'll make everything better…!"

"Naruto," his fingers loosened and the hand in his grip slipped away, "I can't feel you and it's so cold—"

"You'll... make everything… better?"

His vision blurred. Sharpened. Settled on Naruto and Sasuke, their arms around each other as bruises and gashes littered their skin. Disheveled and weary but unbroken, unbowed. Champions who had risen to the challenge and conquered each other's limit, climbing so high they could have reached the moon in the sky.

"I…"

So much pride in their young bodies they could hardly bear it—they vibrated with it so much it came out in their smiles. It was hard to see whose lips started it and finished it, one continuous curve dipping from one boy to the other.

"I promise."

Then—a drop.

"Why do you come—so far—"

A lone liquid, beading on a smile.

"Don't you get fed up… asking me that?"

Another, trailing on an arm.

"My answer's still the same."

A third, landing on a shoulder.

"You don't care… but I do."

A fourth, demarcating the line where Naruto ended and Sasuke began.

"And it's enough for me."

Little drops, clear drops, falling in the middle with the silence of a snowy night, mixing with a crimson cutting through the center that made their whole.

"Because Sasuke—"

"I see you."

"You are—"

Naruto. Sasuke.

"—my most—"

"Me. I see myself too."

"—precious— "

The rain and blood between them.

"—person."

"But Naruto—" a choked breath, "I can't see us anymore—"

Each memory surfacing in his head, the distance between them drowning in rain and blood until there was no them, no us, no Naruto and Sasuke—

"Naruto," he gasped out. "Naruto."

Drowning Naruto, drowning him—

His hand shot wildly above him, seeking desperately for air, for him (he and air, it's the same, let me breathe, let me breathe), for one more chance from the sky, just one—

"Naruto!"

A hand caught his.

"It's okay."

A smile from a shadowed face.

"It's okay, Sasuke."

So glorious, so golden, it lit up his whole face.

"We'll be home soon…"

So beautiful and true it muted the blood trickling down his chin—

"Home…"

—the tears and the rain trailing down his cheeks.

(Not again, not again not again notagain—!)

Sasuke gasped out and his eyes flew open.