This chapter has no dialogue, it's just Sasuke's private thoughts. The dream has an incredibly deeper meaning to it.

And yeah, I got one taker for the fan art thing. Dumb hope :D

Something was seriously wrong.

I had thought about Naruto a lot, but I had never had dreams about him. Never had fantasies about him. Hell, since I had been here, I rarely ever had dreams unless they involved Itachi's slaughter.

But the night Orochimaru left, I had a dream with him in it. Not just him, either. Sakura was there too.

There were two Narutos.

That was vaguely it. The happenings of the dream slipped away when I woke up. But those details were enough to drive me insane all day.

Naruto was taking over my mind.

The opposite of what I wanted began to happen. I started to miss him.

I always felt guilty about what I had done. I loved him, and I told him so. He felt the same, but doing this to him only made my leaving worse. The only upside was it made my hate and desire for death on Itachi stronger.

Itachi wanted to capture Naruto and extract him. Who knows what else he wanted to do. I was pitying my self more than I was Naruto in thinking so, but I always felt responsible for him. I thought that maybe if I hadn't been there, Itachi wouldn't have been able to find him. It mostly wasn't true, but I needed some solace for knowing that I left was a good thing. I could distract Itachi, and by killing him keep Naruto safe.

While the revenge on my family was for my sake, everything lead back to Naruto.

I decided since this was partially for Naruto's benefit, I wouldn't forget him at all. It seemed too impossible anyway. But I would think only of Naruto and Itachi. No one else.

But the sad truth, Naruto would probably never feel the same way again. I tried to kill him. I left him for this. Even if he didn't hate me, the level of intimacy and love we had for one another would never repair. Mine never broke, but I knew his did.

Not to mention, I had betrayed Konoha. I could never go back with out the punishments. Even if the sentence wasn't death, associating with Naruto would be out of the question. Naruto still had a connection to the village, and he had hopes of leading it.

I wanted to see him do it.

Most of the time while Orochimaru was gone, I took care of the slaves and trained. The only thing I could really do on my own was practice my accuracy, but I wasn't sure how much better that could get.

I tried to stop thinking about Naruto temporarily, and increased my thoughts of Itachi. My hate for Itachi, my desire to murder him.

It only lasted about an hour. While killing Itachi was my number one feat, so long as he wasn't here and I wasn't on my way to find him, there was no sense in thinking about something when I wanted to think something else.

About my Naruto.

I had assured myself it had been so long, that he must not have been coming after me. But I began to wonder. I had heard rumors about my brother's organization going after Naruto in three years. Orochimaru couldn't use my body for three years.

It was just a coincidence, I hoped, but it nagged in the back of my mind. It had been two and a half years, had he been planning?

Even if he had, he never would find this place, or me. He had no chance.

I hoped.

Something else was nagging at my brain as well.

I had told my self I wanted Naruto to be happy. To have anyone but me. I thought immediately Sakura would take my place in his heart. That would have left me content. Not happy, but content for his sake.

But then I wondered, what if it was someone worse than me? Someone who would take advantage of him?

While it wasn't my right, I knew deep down I would be possessive if I ever knew them. If I somehow over passed the death sentence, and lived in his world, but against someone else. I would be jealous. It would hurt, though in the end it would be my fault. Then I would have no right to him. No right to be jealous, or to fight with the other.

The chances of him still having his feelings for me were slim to none, but I had some sad hope that I would always be the only one, even if it meant we could never be with each other.

Then there was Sakura to consider.

It wasn't like I hated her. She was my comrade, and she and Naruto had been my only friends in life. I would have fought and killed for her. I just didn't have the same feelings for her as I did for Naruto. She had them for me, though, and it had been quite a triangle.

I wondered if now there was no hope, because she was trying to make him hate me. So she could end up with him, the second best.

Though it had been two years, and Sakura may have matured into acceptance. Maybe she was helping him. Encouraging him.

Maybe she would be the only thing keeping his feelings for me alive. Sakura was either the glue or the pliers, the love or the hate. I didn't know.

It made me somewhat angry with myself to be considering such things, but I started to realize that even if I had a goal, I could still think about Naruto and Sakura.

While I wanted to kill my brother, I also lived, breathe, ate, and fought to keep myself alive.

Naruto and Sakura, especially Naruto, had been so much of my life beforehand, they were like living and breathing to me. That wasn't so bad.

When Itachi was dead, maybe Konoha would have seen me as a help in betrayal, and would have let me off easy. Maybe Naruto would have found no one else, and maybe Sakura would just be the same as always. Our loveable yet annoying female friend. Then everything would be normal. The way I wanted it in the end.

But that was part of the final thing pulling at my mind. Somewhere deep down I knew, things could never be that perfect. I wasn't good enough for that, but he was. Maybe it was just me that would be out of the picture.

I had chosen my own path, and I would soon learn what fate was at the end of it.

Too soon would I end any chance of happiness. But it wasn't my happiness I would kill.

Thoughts, anyone?