A/N: Okay, I will admit it. I am a horrible, evil, wicked person. I promised ages and ages ago that this story would be a two or three-parter, and then I never updated!! Bad Ninjasquirls! Bad! But actually, I've had this written since I posted the first chapter. I put off putting it up, because I really wanted to finish the third part, which will resolve the story in some way, but I'm having major writer's block with that. And then I just sort of forgot about it. But I remembered it this weekend, and I decided screw the third part. I'll get it done, or not, but either way, I want to have this up. Part 2 continues the sight/blindness theme of the first chapter, but from Sasuke's perspective. Which is fun to write, because a) he's a fucked-up narcissistic little bastard with a tendency to seize control of any story I put him in and fill it with page after page of emo ranting, and b) I think of him as more perceptive in some ways than Naruto, but also in some ways more oblivious, especially when it comes to dealing with people and emotions. He is one repressed child. So I had fun with this, and I think I kept him more or less in character. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I did own Naruto...but I had to pawn it to make my tuition payments for this year. Now its Mishimoto's, and I don't know how to get it back...

Part Two: Sasuke

Naruto is blind, particularly when it comes to me. I've never seen anyone so oblivious, actually; I've seen him walk straight into traps he didn't even notice, walk through the woods for miles without ever catching on that he was being stalked, try to escape an enemy only to run right into his crony. He just doesn't pay attention, even to the things that are right in front of his face.

But when it comes to me, his blind spot could block out entire continents. It doesn't matter what I do. He just refuses to see. I don't understand how he can live so firmly in his own world, but he does, and nothing I do seems to penetrate it. I do everything I can to show him how I feel, but even when he looks at me, he just stares right through me. He just doesn't get it.

There were times that I thought Naruto was the only one who understood that I was a real person, not a paper cut-out of the perfect ninja. Everyone but him was too busy being awed by the Last Uchiha Prodigy. I'd walk by, and they wouldn't see me; they'd see an ideal, a tragedy, a living memorial to the strength and the folly of my clan. They admired me without knowing me, pitied me without caring about me.

Naruto was the first person since the death of my family to tell me he hated me, and I loved him for it. I loved that he didn't believe in the perfection that everyone else saw in me; he looked at me and saw only a person, a flawed, imperfect person that he didn't like. I loved that when he shouted hateful insults, he shouted them at me, the person that he saw, because he did not fear or worship or stand in awe of me. There have been times that I thought Naruto was the only one who saw me.

Now I'm not so sure about that, because if Naruto could see me, he would realize what I have been trying to tell him. I am not like him. I cannot shout all my thoughts and feelings at the top of my lungs. I cannot walk around with my heart bare for all to see. I wish I could be bold like he is, but I can't. But I have my own ways of showing Naruto how I feel about him, and I know he would see them, if he would only look at me.

I have never learned how to show my feelings openly. One of the first lessons my father taught me was that Uchihas do not do that. Uchihas are always calm and collected. Uchihas are always reserved. Uchihas always have control. Uchihas do not play all their cards at once. Uchihas do not leave themselves open. It was a lesson I learned well.

When my family died at the hands of my brother, emotion just seemed like one more weakness, one more difference between myself and Itachi, one more thing I would have to get rid of if I ever hoped to defeat him. Caring about people made me hesitate in doing everything that had to be done. Loving someone made them vulnerable to being attacked. Having feelings only meant that I could be hurt again. It was much easier to be cold, easier to ignore people, easier to push people away, easier to keep what I felt to myself, easier to keep my face hard and my voice steady. It made me stronger. It made me a better ninja.

If I could walk up to Naruto one day and tell him how I felt, I would. But I have spent too many years learning how to be cold, learning how to keep control, learning how to keep things secret. I know that Naruto looks at me and sees the control and the lies, sees the coldness, and believes it. I know he thinks that I really don't have any feelings aside from anger and hate and contempt. I can't blame him for thinking that, I suppose; I spent a lot of time convincing people that my mask was the truth. I just never thought that he would be fooled too.

Even though I cannot tell him, though, I have tried to show him how I feel, and I don't understand why he doesn't see it. Sometimes I think that he is too lost in himself to see the person I have become in the time he has known me. He is so busy being loud and obnoxious and challenging me to fights and calling me names and insulting me and boasting about his adventures that he looks through me. He thinks I am the same person he knew when we were first teammates, the same indifferent, arrogant brat that he knew back then. He cannot see that I have changed, at least toward him.

I don't really believe that, though. Most of the time I think that it is just that he is too ready to see his own influence in my changes. He thinks that he has changed me, made me more open, made me kinder, made me care about people more. I don't know how he can be so blind. I don't know why he doesn't understand that the way I act around him is not the way I act around everyone else. I don't understand why he doesn't see that if I have changed, it is only for him.

He thinks I have gotten better about being touched, because he tackles me in the morning and I only growl and shove him off. He doesn't realize that if Kiba tried to do the same, I would cripple him. He thinks I've gotten more generous, because I'll let him talk me into paying for ramen after missions. He doesn't realize that when Sakura does the same, I don't mind brushing her off. He thinks I've gotten better about trusting in others' abilities, because I trust him to do his share in a fight. He doesn't realize that I only do that because I know how strong he is.

Naruto thinks I've gotten better to everyone, and he thinks that I still hate him. He thinks I hate him because I call him names. He thinks I hate him because I insult him. He thinks I hate him because I act as though my superiority is a given. He thinks I hate him because I fight him, and sometimes I hurt him.

I don't know why he doesn't see that if I hated him, I wouldn't do any of that. I don't call Ino names. I don't spend hours thinking of ways to insult Neji. I don't let any of my fangirls goad me into fights day after day. If I hate someone, I do not tolerate their presence. I avoid them at all costs.

If Naruto had ever realized this, he would see my actions for what they really are. He would see that I am declaring my love for him in the only way I can allow myself. I do it by letting him talk to me, even if I don't listen. I do it by letting him sit next to me, even if I complain. I do it by letting myself get goaded into fights, by insulting him back when he insults me, by calling him names when he does the same. I do it by rolling my eyes and calling him an idiot when he pulls another stupid prank.

If Naruto ever looks at me, he would see that if I didn't love him, I wouldn't tolerate him and his hyperactivity and his stupidity and his loudness and his obnoxiousness and his obliviousness. I would just walk away from him and find someone who would make my life less complicated.

But Naruto has always been blind. He just won't see.

A/N: Okay, as I said, I've reeeeeeally hit a wall with the third chapter, so I'm taking suggestions. I'm wavering between a first person perspective from either Sakura or Kakashi's point of view, or a third person perspective which actually includes some plot type stuff. Opinions?