A/N- A rare sight. Naruto's POV. Pay attention, enjoy it, because it will never happen again.

Cuz you see, I'm greedy, and I love my favorite character so much that I want to keep his thoughts to myself.

DISCLAIMER - I do not own Naruto.

Naruto

I did what I had to do.

It wasn't like I liked it, or I just wished to hurt him. I did it because I needed too.

That's what I keep telling myself, that's what I keep repeating as I ice my cheek, but nothing I say will make the pain in my chest go away. What I did was harsh, cold, so unlike me. But I didn't do it for kicks, I didn't do it for pay back.

Sasuke, he needed it. He needed to realize the world around him so he wouldn't be destroyed from the inside out.

Sakura wasn't the only one who saw it. I saw it too, I saw that monster eating him away. But it was distant, it was faint, and it was too far to come to my attention. Everything always takes so a long time to come to my attention, but when it does I know exactly what I need to do.

And I usually do it, whether it's cold hearted or not.

I took him out to explain everything to him. To ease him, even joy him with the news that Sakura liked him too. I also took him out to destroy him. To completely break him down to the lowest part his self, so he can slowly rebuild himself again.

As horrible as it sounds, as worthless as I seem, I did it because I was his friend.

The only way to stop that monster from coming out, was the way I did it. He had to realize there was no chance, so he wouldn't give in to the temptation. He had to rationalize to himself that Sakura was out of his hands, so he wouldn't end up crumbling his relationship with her.

I did it to save us all. Not just him.

But my plan had a flaw, a dangerous one that was a bit too much to gamble with, but there was no other way.

It was up to him now, you see. It was up to Sasuke to choose which path he will take. Would he handle things like the strong man I knew he was, or will he become that same weak little boy that me and Sakura found that one fateful day.

It was hard enough for us to become his friends the first time. The second time around, though, I'm fear we will lose him forever.

It was a gamble. Such a huge gamble. And my actions might cause me and Sakura to lose a best friend.

But I needed to. I did what I had to do.

That's what I kept repeating as I iced my cheek…