Title: Magic 8 Ball

By chibi-ruroun

Warning: shonen-ai (boy love) don't like it, don't read it.

Pairing: Sasunaru

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine weep and run away

Sasuke walked around Konoha, walking next to his annoying teammate – Sakura – who couldn't seem to stop talking. However, his mind was somewhere else. Sasuke was…yep you'd guessed it…wondering where is the cute little Naru-chan. After Naruto had left, Kakashi told them that the mission today is to find their missing teammate. Sasuke thought it was a good idea, though he simply gave an indifferent shrug and faked an slightly irritated 'hn' before walking off. Sakura, being her usual pathetic little self, trailed after him like a lost puppy, and complained about their task. After an hour or so, Sakura switched to her stupid chattering mode, talking about boring things like make-ups and the upcoming fall festival in October, and making suggested shy glances that hinted maybe both of them ought to go together.

'No way in hell!' Inner Sasuke shouted as the outer Sasuke just ignored her petty advances. He tuned her out soon as his mind drifted off to his other teammate – Naruto.

'I wonder where'd he gone…he's not at his house, not at Ichiraku ramen stand, not at Iruka-sensei's house…not at the academy…ahh – the Hokage Mountain!' Sasuke was about to open his mouth and tell Sakura but quickly stopped. After Sasuke finished having an intense debate with his inner self, Sasuke nodded mentally and turned toward Sakura.

"Sakura." Sasuke's curt voice made Sakura choked on her words. Sasuke almost smirked. Inner Sasuke was dancing around with glee, waving a sign that said 'loser'.

"Y-yes, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked expectantly at Sasuke. 'Finally he's going to ask me to the fall festival and we'll kiss and live happily ever after and Ino will be so jealous that she'd cry...HELL YEAH!'

Sasuke shook his head, mentally, at Sakura's lovey dovey eyes and sighed, again, mentally, at how easy he was able to read her emotion. 'She really should focus more on her ninja skill than love………gosh she looks so dumb when she's in her fan girl mode…'

"Let's call it a day. I have something to do." With that, he left before Sakura could recover from her disappointment.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun! How about a date!"

Silence greeted her.

At Hokage Mountain

As Sasuke had predicted, our adorable Naru-chan was brooding at one of the four Hokages' head, the Yondaime. Naruto had found out that Yondaime was his father from Sandaime after another attempted murder at the October festival which celebrated the fall of Kyuubi. He frowned and closed his eyes against the sunlight and sighed moodily.

"Hey, oyaji…" he spoke grumpily, "I don't know why Sakura-chan wouldn't go out with me, why Sasuke-teme is such an asshole, why Kakashi-sensei is always playing favorite, why Iruka-sensei never have time fore me, why old man Sandaime is always so busy with paper work…I don't know if anyone care for me at all…why do I still feel so alone even though there are some people that, I think, care about me…

"Sometimes, I just want to cry…but then I remembered that crying doesn't solve anything…besides my nose will become stuffy and uncomfortable. Smiling is so much easier…hey! You know, oyaji, that smiling takes less energy and you don't feel so tired afterward, though at the beginning my jaws were kinda like stuck and had stayed that way for many days. You're eyes don't feel so puffy and hard to see…"

Naruto stared downwards at the village below. He gave a soft, gentle smile with a hint of defeated bitterness.

"No matter how much I tried, I couldn't feel loved…I couldn't gain everyone's acceptance about Kyuubi…I…I-I…"

It had been six years since the assassination attempts Naruto and Naruto had cried his last tears then. At that time, Sandaime had said something that had made Naruto laughed and smiled and commented that Naruto's genuine smile is the most painfully beautiful thing one could witness, and Naruto had merely looked at the old man like he had grown a second head and said 'ol' man! Stop speak riddle-thingy…' The hokage smiled down at Naruto and patted his head.

"You have a beautiful smile. Keep it on for always."

Being a smart six-year-old, Naruto had understood that, and continued smiling despite all the cold glares thrown toward him. However phony his smile may be, he still kept it on, because the old man had said it's beautiful.

Drip.

Drip, drip.

Drip, drip, drip.

Splatter…..

And after so many years, Naruto could not hold the sadness in any longer.

And after so many years, Naruto finally let loose his emotion.

And after so many years, Naruto began to wept.

A/N: plz read and review. Cookies for the reviewers. TBC…

To Red Asatari, Cherry Daze, and Jo: arigato (sankyuu!) i'll do my best with this story.

To keele-cray: thanks and that's very...interesting smile