A/N: For all of you who don't know, Anthony Callea was the runner up in Australian Idol 2, and this is his second song glomps him. When I heard it on the radio, I thought, "OMG, that's the perfect song for a fanfic!" So here is the end result.

(Friendship fanfic)

PS. In case you were wondering, this is the third fanfic I've written today. YAY! NO MORE WRITERS BLOCK!

Disclaimer: Naruto is Kishimoto's property. I just borrow it.

Rain

He didn't know what to think when he saw them. They were walking along the shops, hand in hand, laughing and being the perfect picture of a happy couple.
He should feel glad for them, shouldn't he? They were, after all, his best friends, and he no longer denied it. So, why did he feel like dashing over and ripping them apart, showing them the same amount of pain they were causing him?

Because he loved her.

I remember when we met,
before I was invisible.
I thought I'd play it hard to get,
pretend I'm unapproachable.
But somebody else came along and
took all the chances that I missed.
Stuck on the sideline I keep thinking 'there she goes'...

At first he couldn't believe it. Why on earth would he love her? After all, he had already made his feelings clear long ago, and she had clearly moved on. But there was always this nagging feeling in the back of his mind, always reminding him with the thoughts of the love she had once showered him in. And now, when it was too late, and she had given her heart to someone else, it was now that he realized.

That he had loved her for a long time.

Falling like rain...
No, I don't get to hold her tonight.
Falling like rain...
I was pushed to the back of the line.
'Cause even though I need her love and crave her touch,
I guess I wasn't fast enough.
She's falling like rain,
Just not for me.
Not for me, no, no...

"Sasuke-kun! Ohaiyo!"
"Hn."
The typical morning scene at the bridge.

"Sakura, when will you ever get it? I don't like you that way, I never did and I never will. I'm trying to be nice here, dammit! Just leave me alone, or is that too much information for your abnormally large forehead to contain inside your empty air head?"
Her tears ran down her cheeks, and she reached out towards him one last time.
"Please…Sasuke-kun…don't…"
He pushed her roughly away, and repeated himself. "Just leave me alone…"

And so she did. She had left him alone, alone with his own shadow, a pitiful copy of the cold man he had become.

He didn't deserve her, and he knew it.

Why I took the longest road
I'll have to plead insanity.
It's like my pride put on a show
and didn't sell a single seat.
While I was talking in riddles,
somebody else made perfect sense.
Stuck on the outside I keep thinking 'there she goes'...

And then, they were kissing. They held each other so tenderly, showing love and affection that he knew he would never have, at least not from her.
He no longer wanted to hurt them; he felt no anger, no hatred, only a deep well of regret and sadness.
He had blown his chances of ever getting with her, and he would not ruin the dobe's chance of happiness because of his own stupidity.
A bittersweet smile crept across his face.

Compassion was a new emotion for him.

Falling like rain...
No, I don't get to hold her tonight.
Falling like rain...
I was pushed to the back of the line.
'Cause even though I need her love and crave her touch,
I guess I wasn't fast enough.
She's falling like rain,
Just not for me.
Just not for me.

Trudging home, a drop of rain fell on him.

It fitted the mood he was in, and he made no motion to duck undercover as the droplets started pelting down. He felt refreshed, as if the rain was washing away all his worries, his nightmares, his past. He did not feel the cold that chilled his bones, the locks of ebony hair that hung in front of his face, dripping slowly and steadily.

All he felt was freedom, coursing through his veins.

What do you do, what do you say
when the best thing has passed you by?
Where do you go, how do you know,
if she'll come back another time?

He did not understand why he felt like this. This sudden energy, filling him up, consuming him. It was as if the rain had washed the old him away, revealing a new person underneath. A person who cried out for love. For forgiveness. For guidance in this new world, viewed through fresh eyes, which no longer remembered the horrors of his past.

For help.

She's falling like rain
Falling like rain...
She's falling like rain
She's falling like rain
Falling like rain...
She's falling
She's falling...
She's falling like
Rain...

"Sasuke?"
He looked up, into her green eyes, clouded with worry.
"What are you doing, lying in the middle of the road? Are you insane?"
"Yes…insane…"
"Come on!"
He felt himself being pulled to his feet, and suddenly he was stumbling along beside her, supported by her.
"Sakura, what's going on?"
Naruto stared at them, blue eyes taking in the state of his teammate.
"What happened to him?"
Shifting his weight onto Naruto's shoulder as well, she replied as they made their way slowly towards their house, dripping and tired, with a near comatose Sasuke in tow.
"I don't know, I just found him in the middle of the road, lying there, for who knows how long!" Concern was etched into her voice. "He might catch pneumonia or something if we're not careful!"
"Shit Sasuke, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
He couldn't answer, his body aching and his head throbbing painfully.

When he woke up, he was dry and warm, lying on a couch in a strangely familiar place.
Their place, he realized, waiting for the anger to return. But it didn't. He blinked in confusion.
Nothing.

"Hey, you feeling better now?"
She was holding out a cup of tea, the steam tickling his nose.
"Thanks…" His voice was croaky, yet no sarcasm entered it. Sakura smiled. He had changed.
"Sasuke, you baka, you gave us a hell of a fright out there!"
Naruto joined them, balancing a tray of food on one hand and holding the kettle in the other to refill the cup.
"What were you doing?"
He grinned, and reached out for the bowl of soup that his friend was handing to him.

"Living…"

A/N: Okay, so maybe it didn't make much sense at the end, but I wanted to end my fic like this. I liked to think of Sasuke becoming nice at the end, since I'm in an 'anti-bashing-Sasuke' mood today. Read and review!