Somewhere between Konoha and Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto lay on his side, waiting for sleep to come. He heard Sakura shift slightly beside him and he glanced over his shoulder to check on her. Her usually pretty face was marred by a deep frown that showed an immense sadness within her. Through the veil of sleep, she uttered something that made his blood turn to ice.
"No… Sasuke, don't… Don't go…"
He debated waking his comrade up; he knew what nightmares were like. His hand fell on her shoulder and almost instantly the frown melted and the creases on her brow lessened. She rolled onto her back, Naruto pulling his hand away quickly so it wouldn't land in an inappropriate place. He watched her for a few moments--he wasn't sure if she had been comforted by the fact it was he who had touched her, or her dream had reflected the touch coming from Sasuke, but it had worked either way and he wasn't going to stress it too much.
Naruto lay back on his side, his eyes avoiding the vast blue expanse above them. Night reminded him too much of Sasuke: the dark, mysterious appearance, the flatness and depth that warred with one's perspective (both physically and mentally), the pale whiteness of the moon that reflected the tone of his skin, and the coldness. Another shiver raced through him. Soon, he closed his eyes and groped for sleep that would not come, We'll see him soon. We're almost there; we've almost got him back… But the last coherent thought Naruto had before he slipped into nothingness was that they were nowhere near the end; they could get to where Sasuke was, but they couldn't do anything if they couldn't reach him. Naruto fell into an unsettled sleep beside his one remaining teammate.
Somewhere between Konoha and Itach, Uchiha Sasuke lay on his back, waiting for sleep to come. He heard nothing but the wind howling breathlessly through the old building, and found himself thinking (and not for the first time) not about his brother, but about his teammates. About Naruto.
"Dobe," he let the insult slip from his lips, unaware he had even spoken out loud. He was just so used to calling him that. It was his own way to keep his superiority around the blond, now that his comrade was learning and mastering techniques faster than--
Ex-comrade, he reminded himself. Sasuke knew he had become one of the missing nin, just like his brother before him. (A sick grin came to his face; after all this time, he was still in the shadow of his elder brother.) He was never allowed to go back home (he snorted), to Konoha, to…
He abruptly rolled over onto his side. "Stop that," he told himself out loud. "You made your decision a long time ago." It was three years ago, to be exact. Instead of killing Naruto ("you have to have the will to kill your best friend before you can hope to stand a chance against me") he had tried to make his own path to Itachi by following Orochimaru's road.
What a mistake that had been.
But he hadn't killed his best friend.
Sasuke tried to recall if he had ever dreamt when he was younger, before his brother had caused the nightmares that had haunted him for a long while. He did know that when he had been placed in Team Seven, however, all dreaming had ceased: there were no happy recollections of the times his family was alive, and there were no gut-wrenching memories of dark spatter on the walls and floor and a gleaming blade slicked dark with his family's blood. There was blissful nothingness. And now, here, in the "care" of Orochimaru and company, the nightmares had returned full force, but the dreams of happier times never once granted his mind reprieve.
Sasuke closed his eyes and groped for a sleep that would not come. Soon, he thought as he drifted into a restless, almost fearful sleep, everything will come to a close. Soon.
The waterfall roared. Naruto opened his eyes and stared at the middle afternoon sky, the hue of it making him feel like he was buried alive within it. A noise sounded on his right and he rolled his head over to that side, the familiar blue and khaki-clad figure staring back at him. They both blinked.
"There you are," Naruto spoke first with a smile.
Sasuke snorted half-heartedly: "Like anyone was looking."
Naruto's eyes flinched but he kept his voice even. "I'm looking. Sakura is too. Where are you, Sasuke?"
"…" the black-haired man shrugged, running his fingers through the dark green blades of grass beneath them. "It doesn't matter."
"It does!" Naruto shot up, leaning on his arms to glare at his best friend. "I want to find you, Sasuke, I really do! I--" He closed his mouth abruptly and turned his face to look at the scene around them, actually getting a good look around them. The Valley of the End. His end. With Sasuke.
"Why does it matter?" the aforementioned man had sat up and hugged his knees against his chest casually, staring at the back of the blonde's head.
"Did you really mean to kill me?" he totally ignored the question, but not out of spite. At that, Sasuke blinked but didn't say anything. "I was happy, you know," Naruto continued, "that you considered me an equal. Finally," he gave a half-laugh, his gaze almost bitter.
"…I just didn't want to admit that you were finally getting better than me."
Naruto had to look back at that one.
"I was angry," Sasuke admitted with a slight tinge of red to his cheeks. "You were improving so fast and so much, and I couldn't…" Keep up with you…
"Now it's me who can't keep up with you again," Naruto said tonelessly and they finally looked one another in the eye.
"What would happen if I came back?" Sasuke asked abruptly. "The entire village would--"
"I don't care what the entire village thinks about you," Naruto protested. "What matters is that I want you back."
"I think…that's all that really matters anyway," his friend spoke after another pause. And, for the first time in three years, both of them gave a genuine smile.
"Good," Naruto got up, dusting off his pants, "because right after I welcome you home, I'm gonna beat you black and blue."
Sasuke stood as well, brushing his khaki's once. "That's something that I haven't heard in a while."
"What? A threat? Well, I'm really gonna do it too--"
"Not that, dobe," and unknownst to the other, it comforted them both to hear that familiar insult slip so casually from the darker man's lips. "The 'home' thing."
They each felt themselves coming out of…whatever this was. They were leaving, waking up in their separate worlds once more. Naruto gave Sasuke another heartfelt smile, waving slightly.
"I'll welcome you home, Sasuke. I promise."
"I'll remember that," he grinned back, just as sincerely. And then they walked away.
"You look happy," Sakura inspected Naruto's face closely. He blinked, then smiled at her offhandedly.
"Just had a really good dream, I guess."
"You look happy," Kabuto glanced over at Sasuke. The other shrugged and made his way to Orochimaru's chambers.
"Just had a really good dream, I guess."