Rainy Days

Naruto is alone in the rain. Sasuke finds him. A short, non-sentimental (come on, it's Sasuke) conversation.

The rain poured down.

Nothing bid it stop, so down it came.

Everyone wanted it to stop, but they had no power over such a thing. One person however, wished it would never stop raining.

No one stared at him when it rained. No one cursed him when it rained. No one hated him when it rained. He wasn't so alone when it rained, or it didn't feel as such at least.

Sure, it was wet. It was dark. But he liked it that way. His hair wasn't so bright. His eyes weren't so determinedly shiny. But his life would always be meaningless.

He sat against the trunk of a tree, away from the sidewalk. His knees were brought to his chest and he was wrapping his arms around them. He raised his head from his legs to reveal eyes as wet as the ground around him.

He was crying. No one knew he cried. No one cared. They thought he was strong in this department. Or...heartless actually. But he didn't care. He knew he wasn't heartless, and that mattered. He looked to the sky. To the dark leaves of the tree he sat under.

-

Sasuke walked through the rain. God he loved the rain. Rain washed everything away.

Rain can't wash away the blood.

He shook his head. As Sasuke kept walking, thunder shook the sky and added pain to the feeling the air around him gave off. He spun his black umbrella slightly and looked at the ground.

Lightning flashed moments later and he looked up. He was in the park. The world was so dark. So cold, so dark, so deep, and so wet. But sad. He liked it. Matched his personality.

Sasuke saw a tree to his right and walked over to stand next to it. He kept staring at the ground. Thunder boomed again and Sasuke's eyes shot up from the dirt...mud. What was that? Mixed in with the thunder? He waited.

The thunder came again and he listened. The thunder sounded like cry of pain, of sadness. Noticing the small, yet powerful and effective, sound was closer than he thought and he turned around.

Sasuke glanced around the tree to see a drenched blonde sitting there. His eyes closed, head lifted up, lips slightly parted, letting the rain fall in.

'Dobe?' The dunce could make that sound? 'It sounded so sad...' Sasuke shook his head.

"Oy, Dobe." he said normally. His voice barely over the storm. Naruto's eyes snapped open and he turned to Sasuke, trying to hide that he had been crying.

"What do you want Sasuke?" he muttered. Sasuke blinked, he didn't cuss him out or anything. Was he sick?

"What's wrong? And why the heck are you out in this storm?" he asked, stepping onto one of the trees big roots.

"What difference does it make? I'm out here aren't I? It's none of your business why." He lowered his head so it was hidden by his knees, forehead on them.

Sasuke stood there for a good five minutes without moving. Naruto blinked and stopped his newly bursting tears to look up as the rain stopped hitting him.

Sasuke was holding his black umbrella over Naruto, and getting wet himself.

"Sasuke..." Naruto managed. Sasuke gave him a slightly concerned, but mostly curious look.

"Why were you crying, dunce?" he asked in a serious tone. Naruto again brushed off the name.

"I...I wasn't crying!" Naruto yelled.

"Your eyes are red." Sasuke said bluntly. Naruto cursed under his breath.

"So what? Just because I might've had a weak moment...gonna make fun of me for it now?" he asked bitterly, looking down at the ground dejectedly.

Nothing happened. Sasuke didn't speak.

Getting curious as to if the black haired boy was still there, Naruto raised his head slightly. That's all it took to see the hand right in front of his face. Looking further up, he saw Sasuke attached to that hand. Umbrella in his left hand, right hand out.

"Huh?" he muttered. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Here. I'll help you up." he grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him to his feet. "There."

'I'll help you up.'

Naruto beamed at Sasuke.

"Say Sasuke...what are you doing out in the rain?" he asked as Sasuke covered them both with the umbrella.

"Taking a walk." Sasuke shrugged, noticing the use of nothing but a name from Naruto. Naruto shrugged too, and they headed off to deliver him home. "Don't cry ok? You crying is like me smiling on Christmas for no reason. Just not right."

"Gotacha Sasuke." Naruto shook his head, water came off it in waves.

Sasuke blocked his head from the water, but was otherwise now as wet as the blonde. Naruto flicked a piece of his hair from his face and smiled, his eyes already drying from their reddened state. Sasuke refused to smirk at his simpleness.

"Hey Sasuke" the blonde started. "Do you like the rain?"

"Huh?" he shrugged and smirked. Laughing once he answered. "Yea. I guess so." Naruto nodded.

"Me too." and that's all they said before arriving at Naruto's apartment. "Bye bastard."

"See ya dunce." Sasuke smirked as he left.

Tomorrow promised a severe cold and a fight with the dobe. Sneezing once already, he entered his own house to take a shower and go to bed.

Rectified! This seemed to be a slightly Yaoi story in my mind -no!- but I think I did a great job of making it a friendship story like 'The Gardener.' -smile-

Once I finish the third one, you'll notice that they are all about the subtle friendship between Sasuke and Naruto. I think they make a great team and in my mind they are good friends. I haven't read far enough into the manga to really back that up though. Nothing but fighting. But I can clearly state that Naruto takes Sasuke as he is, a friend and rival. And Sasuke unconsciously does the same with Naruto. So yea, let their friendship live on!

Anyways. #3 is also a 'might've happened' from when they were kids. I love writing one-shots were they may have met before, but just forgotten about it...Yea...It's so wonderful. Also note that I have a summary for this one posted at the top. It's cause I originally planned all three of these to be separate stories, but decided against it.

Please review and tell me what you think. -smiles again-