Imagine me without You
0.04

A month passed and Naruto and Sasuke weren't even as close as 'friends'. If anything, people had started to think that maybe the two hated each other.

But that's just a passing thought.

For now it was weekend, and Sakura had insisted that Naruto would join her to the mall for some shopping, and she needed a guy's opinion on what to buy anyway.

He knew she had brains, but this could only be classified like the stupidest thing she ever had done.

She had dragged him out to shop. To support her. To give her opinions.

… On a Saturday.

He would rather go home and sleep the day away.

"The red or the blue one?" Asked Sakura while holding two dresses by her side. The girl tilted her head to the side, some of her pink hair touching her cheek, while watching her blonde friend who had a puzzled look on his face.

"Uhm, red?" He tried to say it with interest and apparently it worked.

"Really?" She sounded a little unsure. Sakura turned around to look in the mirror with the red dress in front of her slim and girlish body. "But isn't it a little… slutty?" She blushed.

Naruto wanted to sigh but he swallowed it, if you now can swallow a sigh.

"Then why did you even pick it out? And why even start now to search for a dress to New Years?" He crossed his arms and gave Sakura an odd look, by this time Sakura was facing him with a bright smile.

"I'm just looking, not buying! How thick is your skull Uzumaki?" She laughed, her laugh could be described like honey, but it also made him sound like an idiot.

"I simply just need to know how much money I need to save!" She walked by him and hummed a happy little tune which sounded familiar to him.

"Women." Naruto rolled his eyes and followed after the girl. Sakura seemed to have heard him and stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

After a few more shops and Naruto's constant complaining about getting something in his stomach, they decided to visit a café called Kyuubi.

Naruto breathed out when he sat down, his whole body relaxing with happiness to have finally stopped moving. Sakura gave him a slightly irritated look but shook it off. After all, it wasn't everyday Naruto could act as if he were actually eleven years old again.

Sakura placed a brown envelope in front of Naruto; he eyed the small object and then his female friend.

"… Can I eat it?" He asked her with a grin. She tried to poke him with a fork by leaning over the table.

"Ever tried to act normal?" She huffed and her cheeks turned a little pink, her green eyes looked at him with annoyance.

"Defy normal."

"Just open it!" She snapped, Naruto couldn't help but to think that she looked kind of cute when she snapped and acted like a somewhat mother.

He winked at her and picked the object up; while he did a waiter came with Sakura's salad and water, and with Naruto's latte. What? His stomach screamed after something coffee related to tame his coffee hunger!

And what's with girls and salad anyway? No wonder they die before the men do…. Or do they?

Naruto started to scan the picture in his hand, his eyes had turned slightly gloom and his mouth was firmly shut. He watched the picture of him and Sasuke with interest, the picture Sakura had taken on the both of them in Toshin. A pout suddenly graced Naruto's lips; Sasuke looked way better than him in the picture, the older wasn't even smiling. And everybody knew that only a smile could be charming!

He moved on to the second picture and his face turned into a frown, he turned the picture so that his pinkish-haired friend could see it.

"Why would you give me a picture of him?"

Sakura blinked while chewing on her anorexia food, erhm - salad. She slapped her cheek and an 'o' formed on her pink lips.

"I must have switched your pictures! I knew I should have written your names on the-"

"You switched what?" He cut in. She nodded.

"I took a picture of you when you were asleep, or actually when you woke up, remember? You complained to me for taking a picture of you and so on, but you just looked way too cute and I had to give you the pic-" Her ramble was cut off, again.

"And now that bastard has it?" He screamed in shock, or not exactly shock but pretty close to that word and he more squeaked then screamed actually.

"Hey!" She put a hand towards her chest. "Don't call him that!"

But Naruto ignored her words. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"I would rather give him a picture of my ass…" His shoulders sagged and he put one of his bows on the table to support his head while he looked down at his latte.

Sakura pouted while eating her salad.

"What's with you today?"

Naruto didn't look up at his friend and couldn't get but agree to her statement. What's wrong with him?

"So… Any plans for New Years?" Kiba asked from the bench behind Naruto, the dog-boy had his hands in his pockets and nose hidden under his scarf to keep himself warm from the cold December air.

"How come everyone is so obsessed with New Years all of a sudden?" The blonde threw away a piece of wood that had been in his right hand, he watched while Akamaru chased after it like the happy little dog he is.

"It's just two weeks away after all." Naruto turned around to look at his friend, who looked like a giant Swedish meatball with the big jacket he was wearing.

"You have no track of time, do you?" Kiba murmured under his breath. Naruto didn't hear him, but instead of asking what his friend had said he just shrugged it off and threw away the stick again for Akamaru to chase.

After a few more throws Kiba decided it was time to go home, mostly because he was freezing his butt off.

"Since you don't have any plans, why not be with the rest of us? It would be a lot of fun." Kiba said while petting his little dog behind the ear.

"… Why not, my aunt hasn't called me anyway."

Kiba gave him a smile and Naruto did his best to return it.

When the two boys reached a couple of stairs a body came falling down. Both Kiba and Naruto watched the figure that had suddenly appeared with a slightly shocked look, but when they heard pained grunts their minds found themselves again and they helped the man up so he could stand, Kiba supported him while Naruto tried to look the man in the face and ask him if everything were okay.

The moment their faces met it felt like he had been struck by lightning the moment he recognized those dark eyes, the man smirked and the blonde wanted to look away but couldn't because of his paralyzed state.

"Found a way to live your life yet?" The man said with a low, pained and amused voice.

Instead of replying, Naruto helped Kiba to get this man to a bench so he could sit down. Kiba asked if the man had any injuries and if he should call an ambulance or not. But the dark-haired man just shook his head and said that he wanted to borrow a cell phone so that he could call his brother.

While Naruto handed over his phone to the man, he received another smirk. Naruto wanted to stick his tongue out in disgust.

There was no doubt that it was the very same human being that had snatched away his cigarette that one time when he had been waiting for the bus. The time when he had seen Sasuke with a bruise on his cheek…

"Sasuke?"

… Did he just speak out loud?

Naruto head snapped up from looking at the ground to watch the dark man. He spoke another language now, but the boy could have sworn that he had heard his teachers name coming from that mans lips just now.

The blonde's phone was shut and handed over to him.

"Thanks for the help." That was all that dark stranger said as he walked away from the two boys.

When they could hardly see him anymore, the two boys turned towards each other and started to laugh.

"What the hell just happened?" Kiba laughed out and wiped away his tears, Naruto had calmed down already and his mind started to drift away. He had only laughed so that his friend wouldn't see how uncomfortable this had been to him.

Kiba kept laughing and captured Naruto with his arm around the blonde's neck.

"Merry Christmas, Naruto." The boy said to himself while watching a few cars driving by his apartment building, wondering why they weren't home and celebrating Christmas.

He watched as his cigarette smoke played in the air while he breathed out, it looked like small clouds, he only thought of them as clouds because that what's his cousin used to call them when they were little and watching his aunt smoke.

He got rid of his cancer stick and went inside to the warmth and turned off the TV. His aunt had invited him over for Christmas, she had actually wanted him to come and visit her, but he had declined and said that he had homework to catch up to. A small lie, but she had bought it.

Naruto watched a small present lying on his pillow from Sakura, the only Christmas gift he had received for the year. His aunt had told him that she would send the presents from her when she had the time, but he had told her not to hurry about it.

Actually Naruto had went through the trouble to buy Sakura something for Christmas, besides from his aunt and cousin he never bough anything for someone else.

"I so want that dress! But because of Christmas I can't afford it! And my parents would never buy me a dress like that..."

That's what she told him just before Christmas, so he gave her money.

"Here, take it! Just shut up about that damn dress already, okay? Consider it as a Christmas present from me."

She had hugged him and disappeared into the store where the said dress would be and bought it with the happiest smile he ever had seen on her face.

Anyway, time to open the present she had bought for him.

He started with reading the card; he noticed that her handwriting was neat and nice.

"Combine this with the photos I gave you,

Merry Christmas!

Sakura."

True, it went well with pictures. It was a frame after all.

"Just one hour more for a new year to start!" Shan screamed over the loud music to get a few people's attention. His party-hat fell from his head when he brought his drink high up in the air.

A few girls got the alcoholic drink on their clothes because of his movements and screamed at him. Shan's only response to his clumsiness was that they could just remove their clothes if they didn't want them to get ruined.

Sakura owned the dance floor, with her ass shaking off like crazy in that red dress, her face heavy with make-up making her look beautiful but also a little bit slutty. In other words, the make-up made a good combination with her dress. She had had too much to drink, anyone could tell, but she was having a good time so no one stopped her from drinking some more while dancing and spilling it all over the floor. Shaking and drinking would cause her to throw up, but it was Shan's job to take care of it, so why care?

Kiba was flirting with some girl by the stairs, probably talking about his little white dog. The only reason he had begged his mom to buy a dog for him actually, he wanted girls to think of him as cute. Because he had heard that chicks loved and adored guys with dogs.

Lame.

And Naruto? He just couldn't stop drinking. The more he had, the more he talked and he wanted to talk, because he had a girl beside him who said that she loved to hear him talk. She had long dark hair, her face had light make-up on it and she didn't really dress up to show off her body. She sure is cute; it was no wonder why he kissed her.

But it lasted for about three second at most, because as soon Naruto heard commotion coming from the dance floor he dashed towards it.

"Turn off the damn music!" Shan screamed while he held Sakura in his arms. She had collapsed and she looked pale, for a moment the blonde hoped to see that creamy color come back to life in her.

While Naruto just watched her lifeless form in Shan's arms, the boy had screamed that someone should call an ambulance and that so that the girl could get the help she needed at the moment. She breathed, but not much. Kiba had bent over to see if he could help Shan in some way, they didn't want to do anything, too afraid to worsen her situation. They tried to talk to her, just to make sure she heard them. She hardly responded to them at all.

And all that time, Naruto just stared.

His hands reached the phone in his pocket and tried to find a number he didn't know, but felt a sudden urge to call. He found himself listening to the sound of the phone calling until he heard someone pick up.

"…Hello?"

"S-Sasuke…" Naruto whispered the name out. He watched while Shan and Kiba was urging on what to do with Sakura.

"Who-?"

"Sakura she – She…!" Tears formed in his eyes, but he didn't cry. "I don't know what to do Sasuke! She is just lying there, not moving! What should I do? She is all pale… I don't know if she is even breathing anymore…" His voice started to shake and his breath was uneven, he almost started to panic.

"Sakura? Wha- … Naruto?" His teacher sounded slightly shocked. He tried to get Naruto to calm down while the blonde said the same thing over and over;

"What should I do, Sasuke? What should I do...?"

It was quite for at least 15 seconds. He could hear someone talking to Sasuke and after a few seconds more he asked a question for the blonde;

"…Where are you right now?"

Naruto told him the address and the older made a quick promise to be there as fast as he could.

The blonde watched his female friend being carried away by a few men, he followed them out, his blue eyes never leaving Sakura's lifeless form; his eyes even followed the ambulance car as it disappear with a great speed.

In a second, Sasuke's black car had hit the brakes and the said black-haired man practically screamed for Naruto to 'move his sorry ass so they could get going'. Without a jacket and only in shoes, the blonde entered the car and they both drove to the hospital.

Once inside Memoir Hospital, Sasuke had to be the one to talk to the nearest nurse, Naruto had to support himself to a wall and keep his mind from panicking even more and throwing up.

The Uchiha supported Naruto to the room the older had been told Sakura had taken place in, once he left Naruto to sit down he made a call to Sakura's mother to see if she had been informed on what had happened to her daughter. Why Sasuke even had her home number didn't even cross Naruto's mind at the moment.

A doctor started to talk with Sasuke, but the blonde couldn't hear about what. His head had started to spin and everything seemed to run by so fast. Suddenly Sakura mother arrived, her eyes filled with worry and tears started to fill her eyes while she talked to Sasuke about something. Naruto couldn't take it; he threw up in the nearest trashcan.

He leaned against Sasuke's shoulder; even borrowed his jacket to protect himself against the cold. Naruto could see Sakura's mother sitting quietly opposite from him, she smiled towards him when she saw that he had opened his eyes. He smiled back at her, getting a small warm feeling inside.

"Awake?" A hard voice asked him. Naruto nodded and sat upright, glancing at Sasuke a little unsure.

"Haruno is fine, the doctor said so." He whispered, his gently voice making Naruto sigh with relief and happiness.

"Apparently she hadn't eaten since yesterday, and because of the alcohol and movements her body couldn't keep up. But she is fine now; they pumped her stomach to get rid of the alcohol."

Naruto and Sasuke's hands were tangled together, the older squeezed the other in comfort and Naruto smiled a little unsure at the small gesture.

Finding the time to speak, Sakura's mother told the two of them that they should go home and that she would be fine on her own. Just like they were told, both of them left the hospital in Sasuke's car in a journey to return home.

Naruto invited Sasuke, a little unsure, to stay the rest of the night in his apartment. Sasuke slowly accepted the offer and followed the blonde up the stairs after parking the car.

Everything seemed to speed up after that. Naruto locked the door and their eyes met, soon after their lips made contact. Out of the blue, just like that. There was no passion and their kiss seemed slow for the both of them. They really had no idea of what they were doing and could care less at the moment.

They were on the bed, only stopping the kiss when they had to remove their shirts. Sasuke kissed the blondes neck, their hands tangled, and Naruto closed his eyes and a small tear escaped down his cheek. The blonde hardly knew what was going on, he couldn't think clearly or control his body.

They night played on with pleasure, not passion. All they wanted out if it - pleasure, they didn't want anything else. Their kisses were empty and their touches even emptier.

When Naruto woke up Sasuke had already left, no signs were left of him ever being there.

The blonde brought his knees up to his head and hid his face. His body ached and everything seemed like a big mistake, he could hardly remember what had happened between him and his teacher.

Nothing of it seemed real to him, everything was a big, stupid and ugly lie.

To be continued...

I'm really slooooow... I wanted something to happen, I studied other fics to get mine more alive.
I don't think I succeeded, but I'm going to update anyway.

My friend had an attack just like Sakura had, but she had taken a pill to and partied like the rest of us three days straight. I cried when she lied in the hospital bed, it was scary.

THANKS TO EVERY ONE WHO REVIEWS! I really love all of yours opinions on this, good or bad, I love them.

Rewiev? snaske smiles happily.