Out Of It

XII - Epilogue

Ino clutched her prize in her hand as she climbed up the stairs light-heartedly. The heels of her new knee-high boots clicked against the linoleum floor. She pushed on the doors to the Seclusion hallway and ambled towards the patient brooding in front of the Isolation room.

She smiled and held out the little bottle of orange nail polish.

Sasuke took it gratefully. "Thanks Ino. Nice sweater," he added offhandedly.

She grinned gleefully. "It's new."

Sasuke made a non-committal noise and he turned to open the door. Ino sighed and made her way back down the hall. She had told Sakura they could eat breakfast together today.

Sasuke glanced over at Kakashi, who was leaning against the wall next to the door. His face and body language were unreadable. Taking this as a go-ahead, Sasuke entered and made a beeline for the only member of the room.

He still hated the mere idea of strapping sunny Naruto down. It seemed just downright mean. But, Sasuke reminded himself, it was in his power to fix this.

Naruto's eyes creaked open at Sasuke's approach, still fighting the effects of last night's long, drug-induced sleep. Nothing was said as Sasuke unscrewed the cap off the bottle and started to paint the nails of the blonde's right hand orange.

His eyes were fixed on his work but the few times Sasuke looked up, Naruto was staring into space distractedly.

Sasuke finished up the one hand and moved to the other side of the hospital bed.

"What are you thinking?" He asked.

"That there has to be a bar in heaven for the people named Angel who don't like the...whatchamacallit...the...uh...irony."

Nothing else was said until all ten of Naruto's fingernails and all ten of his toenails were vivid orange.

"I heard you forced Kyuubi away," Sasuke said, slowly screwing the cap back on the little bottle.

"Not so much forced him away like I fought a great battle and won...but he's gone, I guess."

"Maybe for good?" Sasuke asked, sounding more curious than anything else. Naruto was a little glad he hadn't heard hope in the dark-haired teen's voice.

"I don't know. He's still here, like in here, just not...there...right now. Like he's not a he."

There was a pregnant pause.

"I'm leaving soon," Sasuke said quietly.

Naruto felt a wave of guilt followed by a wave of happiness, followed by another wave of guilt over being happy.

"You're going to get better," Sasuke continued in a voice that implied no arguing. "You'll get better and find me. Kakashi knows where Anko lives."

Naruto felt a lump form in his throat and his eyes burned as he forced himself to say what was needed. He took a steadying breath and didn't meet Sasuke's gaze.

"I know you hate Kyuubi. Does it matter if it ends up we're the same person?"

Sasuke kissed him. They both knew it was mainly because Sasuke didn't have an answer to the question, but it was because of something else as well.

Sasuke kissed without the fervent need of their lust-induced romps but with the quiet need of a lonely kid, reaching a hand out into a dark world and hoping, nearly begging for someone to take it. And so Naruto kissed back, heartache meeting heartache.

Sasuke pulled back to say, "I never said I hated Kyuubi."

Naruto's eyes studied him. "You're a liar," he said, smile forming at the corners of his mouth. "You're not a real sociopath."

Sasuke smiled. "Guess not."

Kakashi quietly stuck his head into the room. His two patients had their heads close together, like conspiring school children. The orderly smiled slightly, remembering how months ago, he had walked in on them curled around each other in bed. Back then, he had figured that the two of them could pull each other out of here. Naruto had found someone who focused on him rather than Kyuubi and Sasuke had found someone stubborn enough to break through the ice shield his childhood caused him. Despite everything that had happened, Kakashi believed he had been right. He retreated to the hallway silently.

"Are you breaking up with me?" Naruto blurted out suddenly.

Sasuke blinked. After not defining what was between them for so long, the phrase 'breaking up' seemed glaringly out of place.

"I'm not sure I could ever 'break up with you'. You'll always be my friend...best friend, probably the only friend I've got," Sasuke said, with a wry smile. "Even if you...if we don't...Jesus, Naruto...It's not like I'm looking for a...a boyfriend or a wife or someone to pose in a photograph with. I just need someone to cling to for a while and the only thing I want is for them cling back--"

They were still close enough that Naruto could cut him off with a kiss. One of Sasuke's hands landed on Naruto's shoulder. The kiss broke with a sigh.

"Get stronger than me. I'll be waiting," Sasuke said, righting himself. He smirked down at the blonde strapped to the bed. "Not that I don't like you all tied up."

"Bastard," Naruto said, thankful Sasuke had turned away and so couldn't see his cheeks tinting.

"Idiot," Sasuke called over his shoulder, leaving the room confidently. He closed the door behind him and slumped against it.

"Rough?" Kakashi asked from his position against the opposite wall.

Sasuke gazed at the floor, melancholy creeping into his eyes.

"I'm not used to leaving. I'm usually left," he admitted.

"Mmm." Kakashi nodded in understanding.

"I mean...what do you say to people you...love that much? What can you say when you leave?"

"Be safe; be happy; don't forget me?"

"Something like that I guess."

With Kakashi at his side, Sasuke slowly made his way down to the ground floor, where the visiting rooms were. He entered a hallway lit with white morning sunlight and squinted slightly.

Three shadowed adults stood conversing at the other end. His suitcase, small as ever, was at their feet and Sasuke thought that he still didn't know what it was he liked about Naruto.

Because love was the wrong word. Oh, it may have been the right word once but nowadays it had too much baggage, too many pre-conceived ideas already in place.

But maybe...

"You ready?" Anko said when she caught sight of him.

...maybe if the feeling was strong enough, you didn't need a name or a reason for it.

He nodded and Anko picked up his suitcase from where it rested in front of Tsunade. She moved out the door and Sasuke watched her pop open the trunk of a rather beat up looking silver car.

He shook Iruka and Kakashi's hands and thanked Tsunade, who had a genuine smile on her face.

"Take care of yourself, Sasuke," she said.

He nodded and followed Anko to the car. He climbed in the passenger side and as the smell of the seats hit him, he thought about how long it had been since he'd been in a car.

Anko brought it to stuttering life with a twist of her key and Sasuke gave into the cliché urge to look back.

He saw several C-class patients at the window, watching him like they'd watched Gaara months before, and Sasuke thought he finally understood. Crazy wasn't being broken...or swallowing a dark secret. It was just people...amplified. It was getting sad and just getting stuck.

He could make out Sakura's pink head and the green beast that was Lee. He could just see Kiba's red cheeks and a flash of blond hair that had to be Ino. But then they were too far down Konoha's long driveway to see and Sasuke turned to face frontwards.

"Y'okay? Seem kinda out of it," Anko said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah."

After five years or so, most of the patients in C-class would be out, living lives. Some Sasuke would see.

Some, never again.

End

Author's Note: Say hello to the first story I've finished in a while. I'll probably get a sequel out if I scrounge a good idea up. Any tips? Anything you'd like to see? Let me know.

It's shameless promotion time! If you think I'm sexy at all, check out my other story "Sealed" which is my next big project. Here's a summary:

It's another Tsunade-must-revive-Konoha-through-arranged-marriages fic. But marriages don't always mean love or friendship. Some will end well, others won't. This will not be a smooth ride: Sasuke has issues, Hinata's heart is twisted every which way, and most of the genin don't know what to do with themselves or their new spouses at all. Plus, complications arise when Orochimaru turns his eye to a different genin instead. There will be sex LATER, as this is going to be a long fic and they are currently 12. Sasunaru GaaraLee KibaHina slew of others

Woot.

Thanks again!

-Ms Trick