Tightropes
Naruto, its characters, and its plot belongs to Kishimoto-san.
Warnings: shounen-ai. Unbetaed.
Summary: Naruto ponders on two adages of love, and which one really fits. Warning: shounen-ai.
415 words
Naruto hated Sasuke. That was a fact no one could deny. He hated Sasuke for being a 'genius', for being an 'Uchiha'… for being loved and admired and cared for. Naruto hated Sasuke because Sasuke had everything he wanted… And yet Konoha's genius neither cared nor appreciated it.
People say that there is a fine line between love and hate… but Naruto merely scoffed at the saying. There was a fine line but a line nonetheless, and Naruto was definitely on the side of hate.
…Naruto may have been completely on the side of hate, but the line between the two extreme passions really was far too thin – too easily crossed. And soon enough, Naruto found himself on the other side.
A sudden crossing and an excruciatingly slow realization was what Naruto experienced, and he couldn't seem to cross back to hate. Not even now, when Sasuke deserved it.
Still, Naruto doesn't quite agree with the saying that "there is a fine line between love and hate". A 'fine line' implied that it is easy to cross back and forth. Instead, he rather thinks that hating is like walking a tightrope over a pit, and loving is falling – whether one is pushed off, or one walks off of it on one's own… it doesn't really matter. A fall is a fall, and when you fall it's hard to get up. Especially when the fall isn't over yet. He figured that sometimes for some people the abyss may be shallow and easily surmounted – but for others… the pit seems bottomless, and while at times someone is caught by the stray, protruding branches and manages to crawl back up a bit; there will soon be nothing but smooth rocks and strong winds; and the fall continues.
For Naruto, it was something in between. The dark chasm isn't bottomless, but is very deep… and the pit's walls around him are smooth and apparently chakra-resistant; and Naruto was stuck.
'Falling in love'… Naruto didn't really think he'd ever believe that term, much less use it. But now… it just seems too fitting to ignore. Love is falling. The landing and climbing just varied. Unfortunately, neither the fall nor the landing was smooth for him, and the climbing proved to be impossible.
Sasuke fought Naruto without hesitation, and left the village of his own accord. Sasuke is a traitor, and it hurt. That is a fact Naruto can neither change nor ignore, even if no one can quite see it.
Btw… the sudden changes in tenses are meant to be there.
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