Sasuke wakes up with a strangled cry, gasping for breath. For one brief, terrifying instant, he's on that shattered battlefield. He's watching Kaguya murder Sakura and Kakashi. He's watching their blood pool in the dirt. Then the gentle tap of rain dripping through the holes in the roof brings him back to reality.

It's been two years since that day. The dreams still come, but he remembers where he is now. They're on the run from the ruthless goddess, hiding out in a cluster of ruined homes in the Land of Hot Springs. It's fine. He's safe, even if he is shaking uncontrollably.

The old door, hanging off its hinges, swings open with a creak, and a familiar figure is silhouetted in the doorframe.

"Hey," Naruto whispers. His eyes are lidded with sleep, but Sasuke can hear the concern in his voice. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Sasuke replies automatically, impersonally. "I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine," Naruto says. He's stepping further into the room, stepping over debris. He pauses a couple feet away, yawning.

"It's okay. Just... nightmares," Sasuke says. He makes the mistake of meeting Naruto's gaze, and now he's staring into endless blue eyes, being drawn into their depths.

"I get 'em too," Naruto says, running a hand through his hair. "You shouldn't be alone right now, you know. It doesn't help."

"I told you, I'm fine," Sasuke snaps, and the lie rolls off his tongue more easily this time. Naruto keeps staring at him, as if he can see right through him, and Sasuke looks away hastily.

"Alright," the other boy says softly. He's turning, footsteps creaking towards the door, and some hidden compulsion rises in Sasuke's chest.

"Wait," he says to Naruto, scrambling to his feet. He's still half-asleep, movements clumsy as he stumbles to Naruto.

"I'm sorry. Can you stay?" he whispers, eyes warily coming up to meet Naruto's gaze. And then he nearly falls over backwards, because Naruto's arms are suddenly wrapped around him, and Naruto's face is pressed into his chest.

Naruto's warm. He's impossibly warm, and he lets out a deep, rumbling laugh that Sasuke can feel in his bones.

"'Course I can stay. I'll always be here," he says, and Sasuke believes him. They're a matched set, after all. Two parts of the same whole. Naruto's the sun, and Sasuke's the moon. That's how it's always been, and that's how it'll always be.

Sasuke's made his share of mistakes before. He's spent years running from people who only ever cared about him. He's hurt people who would never hurt him. He's nearly lost himself chasing revenge. But none of that matters now, because Naruto is here, and he's never going to leave.

Never.

When Sasuke's eyes slide open, he sees the moon. It's not the blood-red moon of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. It's a silver-white full moon, and Sasuke hasn't seen a more beautiful sight in years. Just for a second, a fleeting moment, he's awash in wonder, because it worked.

Then he looks down at the blood crusted all over his arms, black in the dim moonlight, and the weight of the world crashes onto him.

Sasuke's in the woods, oblivious to his surroundings, because he just remembered that Naruto's dead.

And Naruto's not just dead. He was murdered, butchered before Sasuke's eyes. Brutally slaughtered and tossed aside like he was garbage. Like he meant nothing. Like he was worthless.

But he did mean something. He meant the world to Sasuke, and Sasuke can't stop replaying the whole scene in his head.

He sees Kaguya's bone-spears rip through Naruto's stomach and chest, the bleached yellow-white bones festooned with streamers of scarlet. He hears the wet crunch and an agonized, choked scream. He watches Kaguya toss the body aside and turn to face the other survivors.

In the midst of battle, Sasuke cradles Naruto's head until the light leaves his eyes.

Then he's gone, he's running through the woods, panicking and stumbling. His clothes are warm with blood, so much blood, gods, there's so much blood—

Sasuke is no fool. He knows what Kaguya does to corpses. He knows how she reanimates them, turning them into infernal puppets. Sasuke pictures Naruto's body reanimated, turned into a shambling wreck.

He imagines sky-blue, warm eyes turning into pale, lifeless imitations. He imagines strong arms and tanned skin atrophying and fading into shades of light gray. There's no justice, no dignity left, because Naruto has surely been transformed into a senseless abomination, and Sasuke feels his stomach turn as he bends over.

And he retches violently. He hasn't eaten anything, his stomach is empty, but he's still heaving and gasping. Because he feels sick. He realizes that he has to get rid of the blood, because he can't bear seeing it, he has to get it off—

He's crawling frantically towards the sound of water. There's a stream, clear and cold ice-melt rushing over smooth stones. Sasuke thrusts his hands into the water and tries to wash them clean. Some of the flakes of crusted blood are stubborn, so he rakes his nails up and down his forearm to dislodge them, leaving vivid red marks against his pale skin.

So Sasuke's in the woods, oblivious to his surroundings, because he's scrubbing his skin raw.

And the blood won't come off. It won't fucking come off, and it's not just on his arms, it's all over his clothes, too. He's ripping off his shirt and hurling it away, ignoring the cold bite of the midnight breeze that ghosts over his skin.

Now his arms are aching from the cold air and frigid water, and burning where he's nearly clawed the skin off, but he feels glad. If he squints and ignores the dark stains all over his pants, he can pretend as though he was never soaked with Naruto's blood.

Sasuke stands, his knees weak and shaky, and almost immediately falls down. He scrapes his elbow, and it feels good. So he crawls over to the nearest tree and rams his fist into the chilled, rough bark.

Pain lances through his knuckles, and his skin is split and torn. But he relishes it. Because the physical pain is an excellent distraction from the thoughts echoing in the dark cavern of his head.

He's never going to wrap Naruto in his arms again. He's never going to feel messy blond hair tickling his jaw, never going to feel warm fingers intertwined with his own.

He punches the tree again.

Sasuke's never going to hear Naruto's laugh again. He's never going to lose himself in deep blue, mesmerizing eyes. Never going to see that blinding smile again.

He punches the tree a third time, ignoring the blood smeared on the tree trunk.

And it's not working, the pain isn't a distraction anymore, because now he's realizing he's never going to kiss Naruto again. He's never going to feel Naruto's body pressed up against his. It's all gone.

His Naruto is gone.

And Sasuke's in the woods, oblivious to his surroundings, because nothing really matters anymore.