Moments
Takes place during the three year hiatus. Kind of alternate timelinish. Set in Sunagakure; the lack of Gaara is amazing. Sort of Sasuke/Naruto, but not quite. Take it how you want.
Summary: It's in these nights where Naruto finally dreams, in sorts. Because he's given it all up for Sasuke.
The night was cold, the wind unforgiving; of course, they were in the country where the wind lived, because for Sasuke, staying in the Fire Country was much too dangerous. They had met on the rooftop of one of the restaurants in the business district of Sunagakure; Naruto had been training with Jiraiya, and Sasuke had naturally stalked him. They met sometimes, in the middle of the night like this. The first time it had happened, Naruto had screamed at Sasuke. He tried to pick a fight. Sasuke had just given him a look, and dashed off. After hours of chase, Naruto had finally returned to Jiraiya, who told his student that he wasn't old enough to go gallivanting through the night; he wouldn't be old enough until he was able to take on an A rank mission, but Naruto protested that he just didn't go on missions, not that he couldn't complete them. After all, they hadn't been in Konohagakure since they left more than a year ago; Naruto was fourteen, and he could take care of himself.
This night, Naruto had just stared at Sasuke for a moment, then turned and looked at the skyline. His face twisted into an expression of contempt; Sasuke had left, and now he was plaguing him. Naruto wanted to just pin Sasuke down, tie him up, and force him back to Konohagakure, but Naruto wasn't strong enough, not yet. So he bided his time. He had it.
And Sasuke sat down silently, his feet dangling just like Naruto's. It was cold, and it was quiet except for the soft murmuring of Sunagakure's nightlife below them. Naruto could almost pretend they were home, that it was right for them to be sitting side by side; but it painfully wasn't.
"You know, when you left?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto, his face betraying no emotion. Naruto gave a dark chuckle.
"When you left, bastard, I stopped dreaming you know." Naruto shook his head, and plunged on: "I used to dream, used to want so badly, just to be recognized, to become Hokage and be loved."
There was silence again, and the wind blew gently, throwing grains of sand onto the two silent ninjas; neither cared. "Why?" It was a single word, the only word Naruto had heard from his former teammate since the Valley of the End, and his eyes began to tear. It must've been the sand.
"Because of you, bastard. All I can think of now is you, how much I want to bring you home, what I would do if it ever happened, and sometimes I think of these nighttime meetings. Aren't you supposed to be training with that Snake-bastard? I stopped dreaming, because of you. You were my dream." Naruto paused, and rethought his speech. "Well, I should say, you are my dream, but I already said I didn't dream anymore," he mumbled under his breath.
Sasuke snorted. "Just like an idiot to ruin a momentous speech."
Before Naruto could retort, Sasuke had left.