Disclaimer1: sadly, I don't own the Naruto characters; Kishimoto has that honor.

Disclaimer2: I also don't own the lyrics Missing You by Bernadette Cooper.

A/N: This is a one shot angst story is AU. And it is also male/male, so no complaints on that. Otherwise than that, enjoy this fic!

Aching

by: lady-rouge

Everybody's got to cry sometime
I never understood the reason why
Suddenly the answer is so clear I'm - missing you
Never thought that we would end this way
And if I only had three words to say
They would simply flow so easily, I'm - missing you

Sasuke stood wearily in the middle of the unkempt room as he looked slowly around its familiar surroundings. His eyes gazed unseeingly past the worn cream colored sofa to the bright orange frames that stood above it on the high shelf and a small, sad smirk graced his lips before he walked towards them with long, uneven strides.

Upon reaching the orange frames, Sasuke's fingers automatically reached out to touch them—like he had always done when he was in this room—but for some reason that he dared not question, this time felt different and his fingers froze in the air while he hesitated slightly. That moment of hesitation flitted away and Sasuke moved his fingers forward to trace lightly around the dusty frames that looked like they had not been touched or cared for in a while.

Focusing on the frames kept his mind off of what he really wanted to see and for a while he let his stubborn side win as his fingers continued to play lightly with the frames. But his heart betrayed him—his eyes too, and they lifted up from their initial frame gazing to the picture that stood beneath and Sasuke felt his heart tighten painfully as the cheeky smile of a blonde, cerulean eyed boy caught his attention.

The blonde was smiling audaciously into the camera with his right hand giving thumbs up while the other hand was slung casually around the shoulders of a scowling dark-haired man who looked like that was the last place he wanted to be in. The blue eyes sparked mischievously into the camera while his face was tilted slightly as his mouth was caught in the act of kissing the dark-haired man's cheek. Surrounding them were the smiling faces of Gaara, Sakura, Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Shino, Lee and Kiba as they all posed for the camera. Sasuke gave a light, hollow chuckle as the memories of that day came rushing back . . .

"Sasuke-teme, get over here for the pictures before the automatic flash beg—"

FLASH

"Teme!" Naruto said from his position on the ground below five laughing faces and next to an equally laughing pink-haired girl. "Look what you did, you bastard! You wasted a shot in addition to the other three shots," the blond boy stormed before getting up to go clutch the pale, dark-haired man who stood idly to the side of their group formation.

"I don't like to take pictures," the dark-haired man said mulishly, but did not resist the firm tug that the blonde gave his arm to follow him.

"Just a couple, Sasuke," the blonde said before claiming his original spot next to Sakura. They watched as a man with a bowl-cut haircut decked in all green rush to press the set button before rushing back in an attempt to make it before the flash went off.

"Three red beeps is the signal to smile," the man in green shouted in reminder to the loud group as he sat down on the right of pink-haired Sakura.

beep

"Big smile, everybody," Naruto shouted happily to everyone before slinging an arm around Sasuke and bringing them closer together. "I'm also giving one to my Aunt, so smile big. She'll probably post it on the center of her wall."

beep beep

As Sasuke glared with a scowl at the camera, he felt Naruto's gaze linger on his face, but he kept his eyes reverted to the screen of the camera.

"You know," Naruto began with a glare, "you could at least smile. I mean, this picture is mainly for my Aunt who lives in the other city and she'll see it." He let out a laugh. "And with that look, she wouldn't know what to think when I tell her that you're my boyfriend. She'd probably think I molested you to be my boyfriend," Naruto chuckled as the group laughed around them. "You wouldn't want that, now would you, Sasuke?" Naruto whispered huskily in his right ear and Sasuke fought to quell the crazy urge to throw the blonde on the floor and kiss him uncontrollably. Fighting the smile that threatening to quirk his pursed lips, Sasuke maintained his scowl.

beep beep beep

"If I'm to look like I'm molesting you, I might as well play the part," was Naruto's only teasing words before he swooped down and kissed Sasuke soundly on the cheek.

FLASH

Of course, they had not sent that picture to Naruto's Aunt. After looking at the picture and laughing, Naruto had insisted that he wanted to keep it and so reluctantly, Sasuke had let Naruto frame in the living room for everyone to see.

Sasuke sighed heavily before letting go of his unconscious tight grip on the framed picture. It was so hard to live without Naruto, the bright light and sunshine in his life that always made him want to live—to keep on going despite his troubles. That was how Naruto had entered his dreary life and that was how . . .

Sasuke had fallen in love with him . . .

Sasuke was sick of his life.

He had always been and as he walked down the hallway to his locker, he ignored the swoons of the girls that watched him hungrily with roving eyes. Paying no attention to their attempts at conversation, Sasuke hurried along the hall as he tugged his tie a little looser on the uniform that he wore.

Cross that out.

He was sick of his rich life.

At home, his parents always nagged at him to attend their social events as a "good son" should and he never had any peace—any freedom. That was why it felt so good to escape the mansion that they lived in for school, but Sasuke found that school was not any better.

If it was even possible, school was worse with all the girls that never understood the definition of no. Sighing Sasuke ran his fingers briefly through his raven hair and began to walk towards homeroom. He tried hard press to remain stoic as a group of girls followed him to homeroom. He had done it so much throughout the school year that he found he had mastered that look already—that it had become second nature for him to maintain that look around girls, his servants and everybody.

Sasuke ignored their chatter and walked into the room.

"Sasuke-kun!" They all shouted with heartfelt sighs before coming around him and cornering him. Sasuke arched his eyes in surprised. They had never had the courage to do this to him before and Sasuke found that he did not know how to react. They cornered him with a full ring of girls around him and the ring leader—a petite, busty blonde girl—stepped up within the circle and came up close to him.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun," she purred softly. "My name is Mika and there's the school dance this weekend that I want you to attend with me."

"No," Sasuke said coldly. "Go find someone else."

"I only want you," she said persistently and pressed forward even more.

"I said no." Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he began to get irritated.

She didn't budge and Sasuke began to consider the idea of pushing her aside when a voice rang over the circle.

"Hey, what's going on?" The girls squealed their protests as a pair of arms pushed them aside to reveal sunny hair and pair of the biggest and bluest eyes that Sasuke had ever seen. The guy broke into the center and looking at Mika pressed flush against Sasuke, he put his hands on his hips as his eyebrows narrowed. Sasuke was surprised with the stranger's burst of entrance, but he was even more surprised with the words that came out of the blonde's mouth next.

"And what are you doing with my boyfriend?"

Sasuke smiled fondly at the memory. He always loved that moment and cherished it. The blonde had burst into his life that day and had saved him—from the fanatic girls and from the darkness that surrounded his life. At first, Sasuke had hated the blonde for trying to help him, to befriend him, but that hate had slowly turned into love as they fought and the words that the blonde had said that day proved true.

Before Naruto, Sasuke had never met anyone like him. He always had enough energy for the both of them and always made Sasuke want to appreciate the simplest things in life. Naruto was his sanctuary when things got difficult with his family. Naruto was his love, his haven, his sunshine . . . his life.

But that sunshine was now gone and his world had settled into darkness.

If I had a chance once again
I'd approach us like a love song
So tenderly I'd orchestrate us to be a sweet melody
Sending you romantic cards to remind you of us
Just a token of to entice you to
Come back to love

Sasuke always thought that they would be together forever, but fate had never been kind to him and he didn't expect it to be now. He wish he could rewind back the time and start things over. Maybe then . . . things would have turned out differently in the end. Maybe he would still have Naruto by his side . . .

Sasuke was tired and weary as he trudged home from his father's business. He had been avoiding Naruto for a while and at the thought of seeing Naruto in a couple of minutes, his heart sped up irregularly and his pace increased.

Over two weeks ago, his father had announced to him in front of Naruto that if he didn't take his father's business plans seriously and become the heir to the companies owned by his father, his father would disown him immediately. Being serious, his father had said, was to drop Naruto.

Sasuke had become angry and had stormed off, but to be truthful, Sasuke was afraid—afraid of not having anything to support himself or Naruto. He had always grown up knowing that his future was secured financially and this knowledge that his father meant to threaten him with scared him. He had always grown up doing what his father always wanted and now, breaking away was hard.

But for Naruto he would do anything and in the end, after arguing and fighting with his dad for two weeks, he finally walked out on his house, his parents, his old life and his old dreams. Naruto had become his new dream and a future without Naruto meant nothing to him.

As Sasuke walked home that day, he felt an odd sense of freedom; like a heavy weight had been taken off his shoulders and he smiled genuinely for the first time in two weeks. He knew for sure that he had made the right decision.

After the fifteen minutes of walking, the familiar pale blue home came into view and the smile that Sasuke wore grew. Tadaima, he thought happily before taking his key copy and opening the front door of Naruto's home.

"Naruto, I'm home," he said cheerfully despite his weariness. There was a shuffle in the kitchen before Naruto stepped out.

"Sasuke," he said softly in answer. His eyes held shadows and his eyes were puffy like he had been crying. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in concern and he immediately went to pull Naruto into a tight hug.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" He asked with worry. "Are you sick?"

Naruto looked sadly at him before shaking his head. "I . . . I . . ."

"What do you want to tell me? What's wro—" Sasuke's words died on his lips as a brown-haired man stepped out of the kitchen and threw an arm possessively around Naruto's shoulder before smirking at Sasuke.

"Who the hell is he?" Sasuke demanded jealously to Naruto. Naruto's eyes watered, but did not say anything.

"His new boyfriend and lover," the man answered for Naruto. Sasuke's heart clenched as he waited for Naruto's denial, but it did not come and in that moment, Sasuke's heart broke and an overwhelming sense of pain swept through him as he stared at Naruto in disbelief.

"Naruto . . ." he breathed in pain before turning his pain-filled eyes to Naruto. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"While you were gone, I realized that I didn't love you as I had thought myself to," Naruto said monotonously.

"I came back to be with you, Naruto," Sasuke pleaded. He loved Naruto and needed him as much as he needed the air to breath. "I love you."

A pain flashed in Naruto's eyes, but he remained motionless. "I love Konohamaru now," he said shortly before beginning to turn away. "You can leave now and go back to continue your dad's businesses."

His heart shattered even more and as Naruto turned away, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm tightly and pulled him towards himself. "Please," Sasuke said hoarsely and Naruto's eyes widened and if it had been under any other circumstances Sasuke would have laughed. He never begged for anything. He was an Uchiha and was too proud; he had been raised that way. But now, Sasuke didn't care. If Naruto walked out of his life, he would die. He knew for a fact that he would just die without that beam of sunshine that Naruto always emitted.

"Please," he begged again. "I love you so much. What have I done wrong? Tell me and I'll fix it so you'll be happy with me."

Naruto's lips trembled as he stared at Sasuke's face—almost as if to memorize it before throwing Sasuke's arm off of him roughly. "Just leave, Uchiha!" he shouted angrily with a finger pointed at the door. "Leave me alone, I don't want you anymore. I hate you! I hate you!" Naruto shouted angrily to Sasuke.

Those words were like cruel slaps in the face and it was not until he felt wet drops on his cheeks that he moved from the frozen position that Naruto's words had put him in.

Wet.

Is it raining?

Sasuke's hands moved numbly to his cheeks to feel the wetness.

Tears?

Sasuke had never cried since he had been able to tie his own shoes. Whenever he felt pain, he had always held it in and now . . . he was crying.

He looked from his wet hands to Naruto's quivering face and in that moment, something snapped inside of him and yet, everything came together. Naruto didn't care for him . . . just like everyone else . . .

Feeling that overwhelming sense of depression and sadness, Sasuke bolted out the door and ran away . . . from his love, his sanctuary, his home, his life. He needed to get away from those beautiful eyes that gave him his world, yet also took it away.

"Sasuke!"

Hearing Naruto's voice, Sasuke hurried on even faster. Just stop, he wanted to cry, don't come any closer to me because . . . I will think that you still love me, that you still care for me . . .

"Sasuke!" Naruto's voice screamed hoarsely. Sasuke finally turned to look Naruto to see his eyes gazing at something to Sasuke's left. Sasuke followed his gaze to see a big car speeding recklessly towards him at high speed and Sasuke froze like a deer caught in headlights. His expression widened and he could only gaze at the car as it came closer to him.

"SASUKE!" The scream held despair and pain before a body hit him to the ground and everything went dark.

-

Sasuke woke up to a blurry hazy pain and saw Naruto next to him as they were in the emergency van. At that moment, Naruto woke up with a wince. Blood was still coming down Naruto's head and Sasuke wanted to cry.

"Na . . ."

Sasuke found that he did not have enough energy to say Naruto's name. Naruto looked up with worry and his hand went immediately to clutch Sasuke's.

"Sasuke," he said as his eyes began to droop from the medicine the medics had given Naruto. "I lied . . ."

Sasuke stared at him and could not answer back. His throat was too dry.

"I lied . . . you hear?" Naruto said in a pain tinged voice. Naruto's hands grasped Sasuke's in a tight grip. "If I don't get another chance to tell you," Naruto coughed. "I want to tell you that it was all a lie. My new boyfriend, my never loving you, my hating you . . . it was all a lie."

"Why?" Sasuke's whisper was sad.

"I heard what your dad said and I knew that you were torn between me and your family. I didn't want you to regret ever choosing me if you did choose me. So I gave you no chance to hate me in the future." Naruto gave a sad smile. "But I still love you, Sasuke, with all my soul and heart. Get well and I'll get well and we can both be together."

"I would never hate you, Naruto," Sasuke felt a warm feeling spread over his whole being and feeling lighter than ever, he nodded slightly before squeezing Naruto's hand and they both gave into the darkness that clawed at the edges of their consciousness.

But what Naruto had promised that day had not come true. They were not together. Feeling the moisture at the back of his eyes, Sasuke hurried from the picture frames to the bedroom that they had shared and gazed at it. The untidy bed had its bright blankets thrown halfway on the floor and clothes strewn around the floor that Sasuke didn't have the heart to look at any longer. Being too long in this room brought an onslaught of memories that Sasuke didn't like to remember, but it was too late and the tightly barred gates had been open and unleashed . . .

"Sasuke, stop brooding," Naruto said with a chuckle, "you know that joke we played on you was funny. Admit it."

Sasuke ignored Naruto and headed into the bedroom to take off his coat. His mouth twitched a bit at Naruto's incessant protests and chatters of justifications, but he remained unsmiling. He would Naruto a bit of his own medicine as well. Naruto hopped around Sasuke on both feet as he tried to cheer Sasuke up.

"Come on Sasuke, I didn't mean any harm in it. We thought it was pretty funny anyways." Naruto scrunched his face as he thought for a while. Taking that pause, Sasuke sidestepped him and moved to lay his coat on the night table in Naruto's room.

As he set his coat down, a body threw itself at Sasuke and with an oof, Sasuke fell to the bed with blonde, sunny hair in his face.

"Naruto," he said sternly. "What are you playing at now? It better not be another joke."

"Oh no, it's definitely not that," Naruto said in a husky voice as he quickly straddled Sasuke and looked intently at him with those cerulean eyes. "Since you won't admit that you know our joke was funny, I'll make you admit it—my style," Naruto said with a lick of his lips and a long, sensual grind of his body against Sasuke's.

Sasuke let out a groan before pulling the blonde's mouth to lock with his. Naruto relented and the moment their lips met, their tongues immediately interlocked and Sasuke kissed Naruto hungrily as his hands ran roughly down the blonde's back to cup his ass.

"Oh God, Naruto," he said hoarsely as Naruto teasingly grinded their erections roughly against each other. Sasuke quickly reached up to the blonde and pulled off his shirt and pants to only leave boxers on. Naruto's hands quickly worked the buttons on Sasuke's formal shirt and within a ten seconds, had pulled it off and had leaned down to take Sasuke's nipple into his warm mouth and started to suck on it.

Sasuke gasped and arched his body off the mattress as he pulled Naruto closer to him. Naruto's mouth moved from his dark nipple and down Sasuke's lean chest in wet, hot trails that had Sasuke gasping and groaning. While his mouth moved languidly down the Uchiha's stomach, his hands caressed Sasuke's body fluidly—never leaving one spot untouched. Sasuke's arms went to grip the blonde hair tightly and groaned as suddenly, without warning, Naruto had flung his boxers down in one motion and had engulfed Sasuke's length into his warm, silky mouth. Sasuke gasped as he started to thrust into Naruto's mouth and Naruto's hands tightened around Sasuke's hips, but then the warm mouth that surrounded his length was gone and Sasuke protested hoarsely.

"Admit it," Naruto said with hungry, dark heavy-lidded eyes as he bent down to lick Sasuke's erection teasingly.

Sasuke bucked, but shook his head stubbornly.

"Admit it, you stubborn bastard," Naruto growled. Sasuke shook his head and with a lunge, Naruto bent down once more and nipped Sasuke's pale neck hungrily and forcefully. His mouth explored and licked his neck roughly before sucking on his sensitive spot in the junction of his jaw and Sasuke moaned.

But Naruto did not stay there long, he moved down until he reached the erect member and with the tip of his tongue, Naruto lapped at the precum that was coming out. Sasuke's moans escalated and Sasuke gripped Naruto's head tightly before panting out.

"Okay, you win dobe," he said as a tremor of pleasure shook through him. "It . . . was . . . ahh," he groaned as Naruto continued to tease him. "funny," he grounded out. Sasuke looked into the dark, passion-filled eyes of Naruto and smirked. "Now fuck me you bastard."

Naruto did without another moment's hesitation.

Sasuke looked longingly at the messy room before turning away. How he wished that he could be with Naruto once more . . .

I will gladly sacrifice
to have you back in my life
I'm beggin' you honey, please
Come back to me darlin'
Everybody's got to cry sometimes
I never understood the reason why
the answer is so clear to me now

If someone had told him that he would be separated from Naruto this week, he would have loved Naruto so much more . . . would have never let him out of bed to be in harm's way . . . he would have told Naruto of his love a thousand times over. . .

Goodbye . . .

Sasuke foot stepped on something and he looked down to see a ring—the ring that he had given to Naruto. It had been their promise ring of an eternal love, but Naruto had probably thrown it on the floor in an angry or sad fit. Sasuke felt tears prickling his eyes once more and he brought it gently with him as he walked towards the center once more to set it on the living room table. As soon as he set it down, the jiggling of the door knob could be heard and Sasuke turned his head towards it—awaiting the person behind the door.

The door swung with his hard tug and upon entrance, Naruto felt his breathing stop before he stumbled almost in a drunken fashion to lean against the wall as he tried to calm the irregular turn that his breathing had taken.

He could have sworn for the life of his . . .

. . . that he had seen Sasuke in the center of the room.

Feeling the overwhelming pain taking over his body again, Naruto shook his head and walked to the center of the room. Something glinted in the artificial light that he had turned on in his home and he walked quickly towards the center to look on the oak table.

His ring . . .

The ring that Sasuke and he both had identical copies of . . .

How had it gotten there . . .? Naruto had searched all over the house for it, but had not found it . . .

Feeling the tears that he had been holding in at bay since Sasuke died in the emergency van like the medics had told him, since they buried him today, since he told Sasuke he hated him, since he realized that he would never get to be with Sasuke anymore, never get to hold his warm body at night, never get to tease the brooding man . . .

Naruto let out a choked sob and suddenly, the tears were running down his cheeks and down his black tuxedo. He brought his hands to his face and tried to still the shaking of his shoulders, of his frail body.

It just hurt so much . . .

"Naruto?" The many voices spoke with concern and Naruto wiped hurriedly at his face as the door widened and his friends, the ones in the picture that he had on his shelf, stepped through and seeing his tear-stained face, came over to give him a hug.

"Don't cry," Sakura said sadly with tears in her eyes as well. "I'm sure that he wouldn't want you to be crying right now," she said before giving him a tight hug.

"Just because he died, that doesn't mean that Sasuke's far away from you," the red-haired guy named Gaara said softly as well and seeing the worried looks etched on their faces, Naruto agreed half-heartedly and rose up from his position on the wall.

But the half-heartedness changed into bewilderment as Naruto got up and followed his friends to grab some things from his room.

Because . . .

For a moment there . . .

He had felt the gentle caressing of Sasuke's fingers on his face to comfort him.

Fin. Also, if you're feeling kind, I'd appreciate the comments on this one shot. Thanks and all constructive criticisms are welcome with open arms! Thanks for reading! '-'