PURPOSE by Kiraya
Disclaimer: If I owned it, this stuff would be canon instead of fanfiction. Let's put two and two together, shall we?
Warnings: Oodles of spoilerific fun for those who aren't up-to-date on the manga; slightly AU (hey, I can't predict what Kishimoto-sensei's going to do with 'em when they're all grown up). Some blink-and-you'll-miss-it SasuNaru here and there (take it platonically or not… it's up to you).
For this installment specifically… Sasuke gets dirty, in a gory fashion. People die, but we don't really care about them, now, do we?
Author's Notes: No more already-written installments after this one, sorry. Updates, however many may come after this, will be more sporadic.
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Uchiha Sasuke had always been a light sleeper. Once again, life had given him a reason to be grateful for it.
He lay on his side on his small futon, a safe distance from the Hokage's spacious bed, and grasped a kunai as he listened to the sound of the intruder padding gently across the floor.
Ever so carefully, he rose from his blankets, the Sharingan already activated, allowing him to pinpoint his enemy in the darkness of the room.
Ever so quietly, he moved to the other side of the room, approaching his enemy with stealth a shadow would envy.
Ever so meticulously, he proceeded to rip his opponent to pieces.
Save his heavy breathing, Sasuke remained eerily silent through the process. It was only when the assassin finally died, letting out a gurgling whimper that echoed through the room, that Naruto sat bolt upright, whipping a kunai out from under his pillow.
"Sasuke? What is it?"
"It's nothing, O dead-to-the-world one," the last Uchiha snapped. "I've taken care of it. Go back to sleep."
Naruto turned the light on anyway, and flinched only slightly at the sight of the mangled corpse at the feet of his bloody rival. "Went a little overboard, don't you think?" he asked cautiously, noting the rage smouldering in the Sharingan's depths.
"She was trying to kill you," the black-haired man replied matter-of-factly, wiping his kunai clean with the edge of one of the blankets.
The blond shrugged. "It's an occupational hazard—"
Sasuke's eyes burned now, and his bloodstained hands grabbed the Hokage's bare shoulders roughly. "I don't care. Nobody can kill you — nobody will kill you but me. Only me! Do you understand?"
With the Uchiha's blood-spattered face so close, staring into the Sharingan was daunting, but Naruto would not look away. "If that's the case," he asked quietly, "why have you let me keep living?"
Surprise flickered briefly across Sasuke's face; then that old mask of coldness settled in its place. The Sharingan faded out as the pale man's hands fell to his sides and, turning on his heel, he briskly strode over to the bathroom, deliberately closing the door behind him.
Naruto shook his head as he heard the shower start running, and went to find someone to help clean the mess.
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When Sasuke emerged from the bathroom, the corpse and all traces of it were gone, leaving only a faint lemony scent behind. He walked over to stand next to the Hokage's bed and looked down at its occupant.
"…I've always disapproved of killing people in their sleep," he finally said.
Naruto didn't even stir.
Sasuke snorted and went back to bed.
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They were fighting not far from the village about a week later when the Rokudaime Hokage was struck from behind by several shuriken coated with a paralysis poison. Even as he fell to one knee with a grunt of surprise, his sparring partner dashed into the brush from whence the attack had come.
Uchiha Sasuke then proceeded to disembowel the startled would-be assassin with his bare hands.
Covered in blood up to his elbows, the Sharingan blazing angrily as they suspiciously darted from side to side in search of other targets, the dark-haired man reentered the clearing to crouch in front of his rival. His chest heaved as gulped in air, glaring fiercely at the blond.
Naruto looked back at him steadily, that same question still lingering in his blue eyes.
Suddenly feeling bone-weary, Sasuke let his head fall against the young Hokage's shoulder with a huge sigh. The things I do for this idiot…
Stiff fingers slowly came up to squeeze the last Uchiha's pale arm, just once. Thank you… Sasuke.
When they finally started hobbling back to Konohagakure, they leaned on each other for support.
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End Act VII. 11 December 2004.