Of Struggles, Pain, Power and Battle

By Spirited Dragon

Chapter 9. Still Ungrateful but Never Leaving.

Sasuke ran towards the bus stop that would take him towards Naruto's house. He looked at the timetable, his watch and back again impatiently. It would not be here on time. "Shit," he thought and took of down the street hoping to get to Naruto before it was too late. It was Beyond hope. He sprinted down back roads, pushing past people who shouted at his impertinence, running faster and faster trying to will his legs to move quickly, he jumped over fences to save time. His muscles were burning with pain and his lungs felt like they had been soaking in bleach, they screamed at him and begged for oxygen. He didn't have time. He never had time.

A soft breeze pushed Sasuke's hair back and his bag hit his hip painfully; the young Uchiha figured he could make better progress without it so ditched it in the current garden he was in, hearing the ratting of things as they suffered in his haste and he continued to move. Sasuke knew he was close he could see Naruto's flat building from where he was and used his will power alone to kick his body into overdrive. Feet slamming into the concrete pavement, feeling all the cracks and uneven slabs with all every run, he turned into the open, communal driveway used by residents. Ignoring looks given to him by at the very least a dozen kids playing outside he ripped open the main door, he stopped dead in his tracks at that moment when he saw what the stairs were covered in.

A trail of circular blood drops and smears lead a path up and beyond into the peripheral where he couldn't see. He could be too late. It could be beyond hope. As he leaped the stairs, two at a time all that passed through his mind was that if his Naruto…If Naruto died there would be hell to pay from so many people. "I'll kill them; I swear to God, I will kill them."

He reached Naruto's front door and something new assaulted his senses, the faint smell of metal. It was the distinct aroma of rusty metal. What he smelt was Naruto's blood.

Sasuke tried to open the door hoping it would be unlocked. Lucky as he was, it wasn't [1 Walking in the opposite direction, he came, until his back hit the other resident's door he breathed in deep filling his body with much needed air. His eyes narrowed in desperation and determination and then he ran. He ran into the door hitting it side on where he presumed it would be weakest, where the locks were. The old door creaked in displeasure and he kicked at it to, hopefully break it down. After at the very least two kicks the door was beginning to give in, one more kick was all it needed and it buckled in on itself. Splintered from the frame Sasuke pushed past it uncaring, snagging his shirt on one of the many splinters left behind.

Ignoring the rip and feel of blood on his arm, he made his way through the short and turned over corridor. Pictures lay crooked on the walls, dents were a plenty and blood. So much blood. He let go of the breath he was holding since he saw the state of the corridor and turned the corner into Naruto's living room and it was here he saw Naruto huddled in a corner.

He ran up to the only person he let in since the massacre and sank to the floor. Pulling Naruto onto his lap and discarding the way blood soaked into his clothes and smeared over his skin, Sasuke gently pushed back the damp locks of Naruto's hair.

"Dobe! Wake up," he pleaded urgently. "I'm telling you to wake up now!" His voice cracked and the pain he was feeling leaked into the air through his words. Sasuke felt as if his face was wet and realised he was crying. He never cried. Only the weak cried. The weak and the useless. That was what he was then? Weak and useless. He didn't stop the murder of his family and he didn't try hard enough to save Naruto. Weak and useless.

Weak.

Useless.

These words kept repeating themselves over and over in his head as the tears dropped onto Naruto; Sasuke rocked backwards and forwards trying to coax the blond haired, blue eyed, six whiskered boy into waking. Trying anything, saying everything. Doing nothing.

Naruto vaguely remembered being shoved out of a car near his apartment. He vaguely remembered crawling through up the stairs to reach his flat. He almost made out the details of stumbling into his corridor tearing up the place as he tried to not feel his wounds and keep Kyuubi at bay. What he didn't remember at all was Sasuke being there. How did he end up in Sasuke's lay bleeding all him while the other cried onto him. How did he see the Uchiha's lips move but not hear the orders, pleas and cries of anything for him to come around.

He opened his eyes briefly moving back into the world of the conscious and tried to say something back. All that came out was a half-hearted insult. "Bastard." Sasuke stopped muttering and looked at Naruto's half open eyes. He was alive. He was still alive.

"Naruto, you need to get help. Wait here -"

"Sasuke, I can't he- I- urgahhhh!" Naruto half screamed and his body twitched in rapid spasms. His eyes were opening and closing and the grip he had on Sasuke's shirt tightened and tightened until his knuckles were white, the tendons stretched out under the skin. Sasuke tried to calm the boy knowing that all this movement could ultimately be the thing that killed the boy. Sasuke rubbed Naruto's forehead and tried to still him, he tried to stop Naruto hurting himself but it was know use. Naruto's twitching was getting worse and he shook violently, saliva ran down the side of his open mouth since he lost all control of himself and now Naruto's hands were opening and closing as well as his eyes.

Inside Naruto's mind there was a war going on. A war against struggle, pain, for power and battle. The Kyuubi no Kitsune had had enough of trying to sit docile whilst letting the imbecile that was his other half run the show. Now was a better time than any. Sneering at the cowering small child in the corner of the cell entrance foyer he said, "Brat, we're going to get revenge tonight. I'ma going to start with that Uchiha kid for weeping all over us like a pansy. Us? Oh yes I mean me. After tonight, you won't exist anymore. I'll make sure you watch yet again as I kill all our enemies. Tonight Naruto. You die."

"Stop!" the child in the corner. Naruto as a child, screamed, "Please stop! You're hurting me!"

"I care since when? I'm making you feel the sixteen years I was trapped inside you. Watching you let yourself get beaten and hurt. RAPED. Weak, useless, cowardly nothing!" The fox started to push against the sides of the cell with all it magnificent nine tails. Tails a vibrant orange and brown. The ceiling and floors around it cracked and then it laughed the laugh so powerful and bone-chilling Naruto inside his mind stopped shaking and moved with terrified steps to the middle of the foyer. There he stood in front of the great cage doors and willed them to hold. Now paralysed with fear itself he continued to stand there with his eyes wide open. The demon inside him ran to the cell doors slamming into them, attacking them with a full frontal attack. One hit was all it took. The seal ripped, the bars shattered, and the demon fox was free.

Naruto on the outside had stopped having a fit and let out one tremendous long scream. A scream that was brimming with pain, the only true way to convey what was happening on the inside. Then as soon as it had started, he stilled. Perfectly and most completely. Naruto moved no more. "Naruto!" Sasuke shouted at him. He didn't know what to do and shook him firmly. "Naruto, you can't- no won't die yet. That's an order."

"And who are you to order me around bastard?" A voice lower in octave and more drawn out than Uzumaki's normal speech manner spoke. 'Naruto' in one swift movement sat up and shoved Sasuke down where he then stood towering over him. "Think you're so big and bad just 'cause the brat let you push his snivelling self around? Reality check. Today I'ma skin you alive." 'Naruto', well Naruto only by appearance, reached down to grab Sasuke by the collar of his bloodstained shirt and lifted him up to eye level. Surprisingly strong for a person, a body that had lost a lot of blood and suffered near fatal injuries.

'Naruto' spat at Sasuke's face as a degrading sort of insult and Sasuke became enraged. No body disrespected his like that. Especially not some psycho, deranged "demon fox" that wasn't even real. He would at the very least fight back, although realistically his fatigue, concern for Naruto and experience with fighting demon foxes (or lack there of) would maybe, just perhaps hold him back.

Sasuke twisted out of the grip 'Naruto' had on him and pushed the boy away from him as hard as he could, in the process managing to wind 'Naruto'. He moved away from the corner swiftly knowing instinctively that being in a corner limited him greatly. 'Naruto' looked greatly amused and smiled in a feral, psychopathic way; this here looked like a challenge. A challenge with a very rewarding outcome when he won. "Ooh I see why the brat likes you. Very, what's the word? Feisty? Yeaa. The idiot loves you so much it's pathetic. Doesn't realise trivial things like CARING for people only hold you back. To be truly great you have to CUT OUT your heart, something I'ma prove by killing you." 'Naruto' ran towards Sasuke erratically making it hard for the Uchiha to predict his movements, this boy was uncontrollable like this. So unpredictable in his movements and the second before a fist slammed into his stomach he couldn't help but think the fox form was right about losing one's heart.

He fell backwards in a heap and blood trickled down the corner of his mouth in a sliver. Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he quickly tried to rise and weigh up his options. One, he could run and get the hell out of here, abandoning Naruto and all the baggage that came with him; Two, he could try to fight the fox and help his close friend. Three. Well the third option that sprang to mind was dying at the hands of Naruto's alter ego thing.

Watching 'Naruto' watching him he ran forward deciding even if he died he would save Naruto and try to set the boy free at last. He owed him that, he felt, the simple fact that he refused to turn his back from people he cared about didn't quite cover all the reasons he stayed to fight. Sasuke filled with renewed determination, remembering why he was there in the first place it seemed, sidestepped at the last moment just before he reached Naruto and dodged behind him in a calculated attempt to restrain him. 'Naruto' laughed and spun round in Sasuke's death grip (not so deadly) and leaned in close to his face. "Think you can defeat me huh? You're better than the others are they all tried to escape. Should've seen them scream and you know what? I can't wait to taste your blood once this game is over. Out of all the people the brat and I have destroyed, your death will finally be the one to kill him and this excuse for a body will be mine. I'ma be free thanks to your pretty arse." 'Naruto then kissed Sasuke harshly breaking skin as lips were crushed against teeth, he bit down hard enjoying the grunt of pain from Uchiha and then pulled back abruptly. Taking in the sight of a flushed Sasuke with blood leaking from shallow cuts on his lips, well to put it simply it was ORGASMIC. There was time for that later though, first he had to die. He punched Sasuke's face making it snap to the side and pulled his foot back to kick the bent over boy. Sasuke tried his best to regain the precious air his body so desperately needed so in vain tripped 'Naruto,' still bent double he breathed in pants, hard and fast. This was not going well.

When the last of the Uchiha's looked to where he presumed his friends body to be, he was not pleasantly surprised to find that 'Naruto' or should he say The Fox, Was nowhere in sight. He scanned the small living space but regretted not checking behind him when he felt something sharp pressed into the small of his back. It was happening again, the people or person he cared about was dying and he couldn't do anything to stop it. "-Ne Sasuke-Chan? Did Naru tell you?" 'Naruto was whispering into Sasuke's ear from behind him, taunting him. Almost waiting for an opportunity to stab him.

"Let him go."

"Why I think it's about time I had free reign, no one to order me around, no one to worry about and best of all. The best part of all this? Is that I get as much pain as I can with the brat suffering for it," 'Naruto' laughed sadistically and pushed the knife further into Sasuke's back ripping through skin even through cloth.

"I don't need to hurt him, let him go." Sasuke leaned into the blade in what seemed, in the moment an act of insanity. 'Naruto surprised as well by this slight display of what he thought was surrender tilted his head to the side in query, Sasuke noticed the relapse and was quick to advantage it. He grabbed an arm of his captor and leaned forward bringing 'Naruto' over his head onto the floor. Hard. 'Naruto' winded tried to catch his breath but didn't as a foot was placed onto his chest limiting his breathing, the knife long left his hand lay within reach but unnoticed. Sasuke straddled 'Naruto' and pressed his arm onto 'Naruto's' neck to stop the struggling, it was funny how everything between them was always repeating itself. Over and over, they were well and truly stuck. "Let him go," Sasuke demanded.

"Think you've got the upper hand just 'cause I'ma under ya?" questioned 'Naruto'.

"Let. Him. Go or I'll force you, you can't have him he's mine and I don't share." Sasuke stared fiercely as he said those words and searched for any signs of the Kyuubi relinquishing control.

"You're as ignorant as the brat. He never learnt, he'll never know, it's the submissive that has all the CONTROL." 'Naruto' laughed and watched the shock blossom over Sasuke's face. He gasped trying to breathe, raspy and short. 'Naruto' pushed him off him and kicked the now limp body of Sasuke whose hand was sharply clenching and opening. A steady blood pool was filling the space beneath him and seeping through his shirt. The carpet was a deep crimson and 'Naruto' just watched as Sasuke's eyes glassed over. It was almost over. Just a few more breath's left.

"This is how your family felt huh? Feel the pain. You should always check your surroundings, you would've seen this coming if you hadn't been so useless," 'Naruto' continued to mock and crouched down next to the dying form of his friend pulling his chin up to his level. Before he could say more words of superiority, he coughed violently and clutched his stomach. Wheezing, 'Naruto' fell to the floor next to Sasuke and twitched in non-rhythmic motions. His hands gripped so tightly the tendons stretched over his knuckles. White.

Then it stopped.

He stopped.

Sasuke could feel his grip on life slipping but he had to protect Naruto and his body moved on its own accord, running on automatic. He rolled onto his side one arm over his wound and the other keeping his balance. 'Naruto' lay still and silent and he was breathing barely; Sasuke shook his shoulder gently and felt a sickness in him not caused from blood loss rise within him. "Sasuke," a soft whisper barely audible lifted itself through the deathly silence from the body on the floor.

"Naruto?" Sasuke opened his eyes and as he tried to brush tears from his eyes he collapsed next to Naruto.

"I told you to leave it teme."

"We need to get you to a hospital, you're going to die. Dobe" Sasuke replied.

"So are you, and here we are wasting time on- this."

"I did say I was going to save you."

"I told you to leave it alone, I was dealing with it!" Naruto coughed as he realised shouting was too much exertion for his body. Shutting down as it was.

"Oh fuck off you moron, you knew, KNOW I couldn't do that." Sasuke, despite a grievous stab wound was still articulate and now pissed.

"Well then, see you in hell teme. I'm sure that's where we're going."

"Hn, why?"

"WWell I personally have KILLED people, you're queer and yeah well there's no room for us up there with the saints." Slurred words were all that sounded.

"Idiot."

"Bastard."

"Better that than a fool." Sasuke replied, his voice like that of a person in dire need of sleep.

"Did you mean it?" Asked Naruto.

"What thing?"

"He said you loved me, that's why it would hurt even more when I killed you," Naruto turned sloppily to face Sasuke reaching to entwine his hand with the other.

"Dobe, Come here" and with that Sasuke leaned forward stretching his neck to its limit and kissed Naruto. Lips covered in blood met in a soft fever, Naruto responding with enthusiasm he kissed back almost aggressively. Sasuke licked along the bottom lip of Naruto parting his lips for him when he bit them gently. Naruto let the dark haired boy's tongue enter his mouth and oddly caress his. Despite the coppery taste and the odd floating, light headed-ness -they were, most likely, both feeling- they carried on until they ran out of air, which is what it usually came to. Lips parting in a way so tragically they pressed forehead to forehead, a last act of intimacy. "Forever?" whispered Naruto, his cold breath moving in tendrils across Sasuke's face.

"Mine," came the reply, husky and almost not there. Darkness threw itself into the two boys and they fell into the world of the unconscious and quite possible the dead.

Time had stopped? What was this, Naruto couldn't see; all around him was nothing. Pure clinical white surrounded him, no shadows, corners or escapes. He tried to close his eyes only to find them already closed. Glued shut it seemed. He used force of will to pry them open and saw he wasn't far off on what he was seeing with his eyes incapacitated. He felt like he was lying down and the gentle beep of something or the other was all that shredded the silence; the air around him was chilled and smelled of a mix of cleaning products and Dettol disinfectant. He turned his head towards the beeping sound realising he must've been here, in this place, for a day or more. His neck was stiff and the muscles moaned at the fact they were obviously going from no movement to 'strenuous' activity.

The beeping was coming from a machine that yes was monitoring his heart rate, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the box but Naruto knew from ER [2 what some medical machines did. He looked down towards his feet and saw himself covered in a thin knitted blanket; arms pale and bruised littered with tubes and wires that hooked him up to a plethora of equipment. His eyes hurt, there was too much light in this room. Hospitals. Rooms that were so pure looking but were houses of death and solemn prayer, that's what hospitals were.

Naruto blinked the sleep from his eyes and tried to sit up only to buckle under his own weight -although in reality, he had lost a few since he had fell unconscious with Sasuke. He was saved from hitting the bed hard by a pair of arms that wrapped themselves around him. They were cold to the touch and very rough. "Naruto," Gaara said.

The boy in question looked up from his sheltered position and saw his master standing before him; red hair ablaze and even more intense in this room devoid of colour, his face was emotionless and showed no signs of concern of anger. It was in many ways worse than his wrath. Silence is deadly. He was wearing clothes that were wrinkled suggesting these clothes had been slept in; the heavy insomniac rings around his eyes were even more prominent. Naruto was confused. "Mas…Gaara," he paused and waiting for an outburst or sharp pain. Nothing. "What are you doing here? What am I doing here? I died."

"Naruto, how many times until you learn? Did you think almost death would stop me? If you die, it will be at the hands of me. You belong to me!" Gaara raised his voice and it was leaking fury, his hands, moved from their protective position were gripping Naruto's shoulders tightly enough to warrant bruises.

"Gaara! This is enough. Sasuke-" Naruto's voice broke momentarily at the mention of this name, but he continued on "No, I don't want this. I didn't do anything to you; I'm only guilty of having Kyuubi in me! A part of me. I've paid enough for the satisfaction of your sick pleasures. You don't own me, I don't belong to you and I won't have any more of your lies and bullshit. You're the biggest coward I've ever met, taking out your grief and pain on an old friend when you should have listened. Listened to what I had to say. You never listen-" Naruto finished head in hands, tears glistening at the corner of his eyes, he ignored the numbness he was feeling and wondered if he had done the right thing. He really could die for this little episode.

"Naruto, I- You killed them-" Gaara was interrupted by a cold calculating voice that emanated from the doorway.

"He did nothing you perverse bastard. That was the other him." Sasuke stood leaning against the doorframe, paler than normal with apparent weight loss and overall he looked very sickly. Still he had managed to control the room and command fear. "Even I know that."

"Oh you're the new boy, think you can save this little murderer? Help him through love and kindness? Is he your princess in peril?" Gaara mocked with the most condescending tone and moved away from Naruto on the bed towards Sasuke.

"He'll never be yours."

"He is mine and will be in the future."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and stood straight, reaching his full height he continued, "He always has been mine, right from the start."

"He's a killer."

"And you're a lowlife torturer, rapist, pathetic, blood lusting, cretin who can't get over the past."

"I could easily take you on too. Make him watch as I proved no one can help him past his sins against me." Gaara advanced slowly and watched for any sign of a reaction. He got none. Sasuke was as calm as still water and as unreadable as the world to the blind.

"I survived a Kyuubi attack and my boyfriend stabbing me. You're insignificant."

"We'll see," Gaara rushed forward, Naruto shouted and tried desperately to untangle himself from the bed he was in. He should've just kept shut. He needn't have worried though because as soon as if had started Sasuke had finished it. He had pinned the red heads arms behind him and pushed him into a wall, bending Gaara's arms till they creaked he lowered his voice so that only he and his victim could hear what was said.

"Touch him or come near him again and I'll take you to hell and back pervert. Get over it, he belongs to me." To emphasise this he twisted Gaara's arms more and revelled in the grimace of pain that went across Gaara's face and the grunt of discomfort. "Apologise and leave."

Sasuke released him and shoved him towards Naruto who was looking at him with curious and worried eyes. As if he didn't quite believe what was happening. Gaara straightened out himself and stepped up to Naruto's hospital bed. He noticed the visible flinch when he reached out to touch Naruto. He had never noticed. He had never listened. He took Naruto's face in both hands noting the tense stance Sasuke had adopted and spoke. "I'm letting you go. Never look my way again. That's an order koi." Nothing more and nothing less. Gaara kissed Naruto gently and chastely on the lips for the first time in a long time and left the room in a swift motion. Naruto was dazed and Sasuke looked exhausted.

"I'm free?" Thought Naruto, "He let me go, it makes no sense."

"Jesus Christ I need to sleep, stupid dobe making me worry. Didn't even die pssht." Sasuke was ranting in his head. Naruto broke the tension with a simple gesture of 'come here'. Sasuke shuffled over to Naruto's bed and lay down next to him on it. It was a squeeze but this was how it was supposed to be. Naruto and Sasuke together, close enough to feel each other's heartbeat and the warmth (or lack) of the body next to them.

"Did you mean it?" Naruto questioned very quietly, afraid to break the silence of the room.

"About?" Sasuke returned.

"Forever, yours forever."

"I never say things I don't mean dobe. I'm never letting you go."

"Possessive much?

-Teme," Naruto added.

"Only to what's mine."

"Say it again. Yours."

"Idiot." Sasuke shook his head in disbelief and then said softly as he drifted off to sleep "Mine."

The day outside was miserable. The summer was almost over, instead of going down with a fight it relinquished itself, and let torrents of rain that came down in sheets to pour. Everything exposed was soaked to within an inch of its life and Naruto and Sasuke were no different. They stood outside the hospital after being discharged waiting for Hinata and Sakura.

A pair of girls approached them in a rush, huddled under one umbrella holding another in their hands. One girl who really should've have considered wearing more -she was adorned in a short denim skirt and pink tights and that was all that could be seen besides her coat- pulled down her hood and quickly shoved the spare umbrella over to them. "Thank you Sakura," Sasuke said blandly.

The four walked in silence, the two girls under one umbrella and the two boys suspiciously close under the other. The rain was relentless and yet pleasantly warm. The trudged further down the road to the bus stops that surrounded the hospital, waiting for any that would take them into the town centre.

Whilst sitting in silence, a tension so awkward and think hovered over them; Hinata did her best to engage all. "Naruto-kun, how are you feeling?"

"Worse for wear I suppose, that is the right thing yea Sasuke?" Sasuke nodded briefly, "I mean it could've been worse."

"Make sure you take you medication," Hinata said rather loudly.

"Oh I will, plus Sasuke over here might help." Naruto laughed and slyly looked out of the corner of his eye noticing a slight blush creeping across Sasuke's face. The rain was slowly down its attack on the world, withering down to a mere drizzle. At last, a bus that seemed to be going to the town centre arrived and they got on shaking droplets of water off themselves. Sakura grabbed the seat next to Sasuke as soon as it became available and watched as Naruto stood near them scowling at the pole he was holding.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Barely there but very heartfelt.

"What for? The almost letting Naruto die, twice?" Sasuke's voice was bitter and gave the impression of controlled anger.

"Both, I didn't realise about you two, you always seemed so perfect and unreachable I needed to be with you, I needed anything. I was a idiot, a stupid little girl. Forgive me?"

"Even if I wanted to, I could never forgive leaving Naruto behind like that. If it weren't for Hinata he wouldn't be here being the idiot he is."

"I resent being called an idiot!" Someone among the throng of people called.

"Dobe then!" Sasuke shot back, "You still thought I would maybe like you if you saved me but if he died I would die. It's that sort of thing. So please stop your whining and begging. You're tragic."

"Harsh," Sakura tried to laugh it off but tears welled up in her eyes. He was right. She sat in silence the rest of the journey and thought back to the moment she walked in on Naruto's flat.

It was a mess; possessions and blood draped over every surface, even if the place had been clean before it would never be the same again. This room, the living room reeked of death and pain. She scanned the room quickly and saw both boys lying together on the floor. They seemed so intimate and Sakura's heart ached at what she would never have.

She ran over to them and checked Sasuke's vitals he was alive, barely but he was. She pulled out her mobile to phone an ambulance. Or should she phone for two? Naruto did this to Sasuke. He deserved to die. Sakura moved Sasuke into the recovery position, on his side, and shoved Naruto out of the way. She didn't notice Hinata rushing past her to Naruto's side, she didn't notice the paramedics take him away first. All she knew, all she heard and saw was Sasuke dying in front of her and everybody cared more for that, that monster.

Sasuke's ambulance arrived at the hospital in a blur of lights, cries, shouts for emergency procedures and the erratic beat of the heart monitor in the background. She was by his side, by his side until she couldn't be anymore and then Sakura, admirer for too long, waited. Six painful hours she waited patiently while they worked to keep him stable. In the first hour Hinata came to comfort her, she snapped and shrugged her off. In the second [3 Hinata came to tell her Naruto was doing fine and he should be awake in a few days, Sakura slapped her. Lastly Hinata came to say Sasuke was stable, no visitors of course but he was alive.

Sakura went to visit eventually; she never left his side before why now? She was so angry that Sasuke had almost killed himself trying to 'save' that Naruto. He wasn't worth it. During the third day of waiting for him to wake up, she came to a deadly conclusion. Sasuke Uchiha, heir to the Uchiha family fortune, gifted and talented [4, aloof and unattainable would never be hers. She had held onto this dream, this false façade of hope for too long. Sakura with her luscious candy pink hair, soft jade eyes realised it was at that school gate she should've let go; they could never be what she needed them to be. She held onto his hand, whispered an apology and left.

As they arrived at the Town centre Bus Station, the bus jolted to a stop at the end of its route. They all got off in silence; well Naruto was talking non-stop so ALMOST everyone was silent. They walked slowly towards the entrance of the shopping centre. It was large and stood towering next to another shopping complex. They headed straight to the food court on the demand of Naruto. Whilst Naruto dragged Hinata off to collect food orders, Sasuke and Sakura sat and waited. They waited together and for a long time. "I really am sorry, I know I should've done more. I can't change the past but I'm working on changing me," Sakura turned and faced Sasuke who sat diagonal from her.

"Hinata told me what had happened, how you went with her to try and 'help', saved me and stayed with me for days," Sasuke commented, it wasn't a question or a remark, just commentary.

"I went to Naruto after I left your side and I apologised. He mumbled something but I can't be too sure. Who can be sure anyways but whatever." Both Sasuke and Sakura smiled although it is safe to say one was considerably less noticeable than the other was.

"You know I can't ever like you the way you do-"

"Did," Sakura cut in abruptly. "To think it took you almost dying for me to realise that."

"We understand each other then?" Sasuke looked her way and waited for a response.

"I don't think you'll ever be able to understand me!" Sakura let loose a belly deep laugh and felt content at this friend like atmosphere develop.

"Oh damn my life ambition, gone." Sasuke replied sarcastically.

Sakura was about to throw a punch at him when Hinata and Naruto appeared with trays of food and all in all looking pretty smug with themselves. It's safe to say one look of smugness was more noticeable. Hinata sat next to Sakura and Naruto threw himself onto the chair next to Sasuke scooting it over a few inches, ever closer towards the forever-stoic teen.

They ate lunch and it was uneventful, Sakura and Hinata acquainted themselves with each other so that by the end of it they were at the very least, good friends. They talked about people they fancied or in Hinata's case didn't no matter how much she blushed when they were around. Sasuke and Naruto sat and talked in lowered voices in between eating. They were overly close to each other and from the outside in one could tell they were in deep with each other. "Thank you," Naruto whispered.

"Why?"

"You didn't stop trying; Gaara is finally letting me go."

"You were never his," Sasuke growled.

"Oh I think I know, a certain someone keeps stressing I'm 'his'," Naruto followed up with a short chuckle.

"I only speak the truth," Sasuke smiled and stared at Naruto's whisker marks. "Are you safe?"

"From him? Yea I have a lot more control over him now than before; he's actually sulking, believe it or not. Talk about entertainment value."

"A laugh a minute I'm sure." At this point their faces were inches apart and they were oblivious to the two girls sat watching intently what was going on in front of them. There was nothing there, no past, no future. Only this moment and it was painful.

Being with each other, they both felt the intense lure the other had and while it kept them sane and stilled the waters of their heart, it hurt. It hurt to be away from each other, it was agonizing not being able to touch the other. This thing between them was as raw and intense as instinct itself, not even God almighty could ever match that.

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[1 Sarcasm people aha ha LAUGH NOW!

[2 Medical Drama - S.M Tell me you got that or I will kill myself for authoric failure.
[3 Fast regeneration/healing reference.
[4 Like being on the honour roll I believe 'cept being G&T don't count for coconuts (much).

Sorry for the extreme wait. I will love [ you all for not giving up hope. Review please! And I'm working hard on getting this finished. Christmas should not stop me alas I foresee a lifetime of nothingness. TT