A/N Alright! Here's chapter 3! The funeral. I hope it turns out alright! Please enjoy!
Naruto's blue eyes were hazy as he followed the silent crowd through the woods and into the very clearing they had been in a little over 4 hours ago. He was silent, standing in front of a glossy black, open coffin. As people lined up to the side of the coffin, one by one passing his body and sending silent prayers towards him, Naruto remained where he was, neither moving or speaking. He remained silent, his blue eyes locked forwards. He didn't finch when Gaara moved up behind him, a sympathetic hand resting on his shoulder. Naruto blinked and remained stone faced, his eyes still red from the tears of before, his mind seeming to be in a permanent lock down.
Everything around him seemed to be moving in slow motion, as if coated in sticky caramel. When everybody returned to their spots, Tsunade stood up in front of the crowd, her voice strong and hard, reverberating around the ever silent wood. Even the birds and woodland creatures seemed to get the memo of mourning. Not a single sound disturbed the thick, desolate silence.
"We have gathered here today to honour a man who passed in protecting his village. Sasuke Uchiha."
Silence hung like ribbons of death. The tension seemed to be suffocating the crowd, their eyes locked either on the ground or on Tsunade, some tearing up already. Tsunade continued.
"In the years passed, we have had many noble ninja's who have given up their lives in honour of Konoha. We have one more to add. Although his heart had been darkened, his mind corrupted by pain from the past, he eventually came to see the light."
Naruto's head lowered, his shoulders shaking slightly and tears threatening to spill out of his aching eyes once again. He remembered yesterday those days when they were a part of Team 7, training side by side and acting together. It all seemed so...far away. Unreal, almost. Taking a deep breath, Naruto lifted his head.
"When times became dark, there was one who believed that Sasuke had not completely betrayed us. It was he who helped steer Sasuke back towards us."
Tsunade broke off, her eyes diverting towards the broken blonde in the front row. Her eyes softened and a pained look crossed in her eyes although her voice remained strong, collected.
"Naruto. Would you like to say something?"
Slowly, Naruto nodded, trudging forwards. It felt as though he was walking through glue, almost. His feet were suddenly almost too heavy, and his head tilted forwards. He stood beside Tsunade, remaining silent for a moment, trying to find his voice. He lifted his head, staring up at the dark sky. Storm clouds were rolling in. Naruto swallowed, wet his lips, and titled his head down, looking out through the sea of forlorn faces. He took a deep, shaky breath, and was vaguely aware of Tsunade's hand on his shoulder. He was surprised to hear a voice, strong through the silence. It was his own.
"He...He was my best friend. Through everything. Fights...anything that got thrown at us. He was always there. Moody, usually, but...still there."
Naruto's voice caught and he forced back the lump in his throat and continued on.
"I...When he left, I just... I couldn't let him go that easily. When I got told that it was useless to keep running after him, that he was gone, I didn't believe it. I couldn't. I knew that there had to be some way to bring him back."
Naruto lowered his head, tears spilling over his eyes. His voice wavered as he spoke, the lump now painful to speak around.
"He wasn't supposed to ... die like this. I-I..."
Naruto paused, a sad smile slipping onto his features. He lifted his head, looking out over the sea of faces.
"He was...The most amazing person I had ever met. The only one who I had admired. Looked up to. If there was one thing that I could have told him before he died, it would have to have been, 'Welcome back.'"
Naruto's voice cracked at the end, the tears falling faster and a sob threatening to slip out of his lips. Most of the people in the crowd were sniffling, tears streaking the majority of their faces. Tsunade squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, and Naruto lifted his head, glancing behind him at the opened casket. He took in Sasuke's pale, peaceful expression, his face still speckled with blood, his raven black hair framing his face. His clothes were tattered and torn still, his hands clasped over his chest. His eyes were closed. Naruto's jaw clenched, and Tsunade whispered, "Naruto...You can return to your spot now."
It took him a second, but he made his way back to his spot, turning his attention back to Tsunade, who began talking again, about Sasuke. Naruto was barely listening, however. Memories were flashing through his mind at a rapid pace, not helping the tears slipping down his face. One of his fondest memories was of their first kiss.
When he had been pushed into Sasuke, and their lips connected, he had acted out in a way that had made it seem like he was disgusted, when in reality, he had...enjoyed it. He wanted to do it again, although he was way too shy to even bring that up. His lips tingled uncontrollably after that, and he found it hard to even look at Sasuke for more than a week after that.
"Let us all share a moment in silence. Remember this man. Sasuke Uchiha."
Everyone's heads lowered, the silence nearly unbearable. Rain started to fall, at first soft spitting, then falling in large rain drops at a rapid pace. Naruto let out a silent sob, his eyes closing, head down.
Sasuke...I love you...
Naruto sat alone on a large rock, over looking the rushing river. It was still raining, but not nearly as bad as before. Eyes glazed over in thought, he picked up a rock and threw it half-heartedly into the river, watching the ripples where it landed.
He remembered on this spot just how he and Sasuke had awkwardly revealed their feelings. Well, more like Naruto embarrassed the hell out of him and Sasuke just sat back, watching him flail around, bemused. Naruto smiled softly at the memory.
~Flashback~
Naruto sighed elaborately as he sauntered down the path, following Kakashi who, as always, had his nose in a book.
"It's so HOOOOTTT!" He complained loudly, unzipping his jacket and tying it around his waist. He was wearing a black muscle shirt underneath, and his tan skin was glistening with sweat. They past a little clearing in which dazzlingly blue water sparkled invitingly, promising refreshment. Naruto grinned and skidded to a stop, nearly causing Sakura to bump into him.
"KAKASHI-SENSEIII! Can we stop!? Pleaaase? It's too hot out! Let's take a break!"
Kakashi paused, turned and blinked. In exaggerated surprise, he looked up at the hot sun, then back at the sweating, over heating team.
"Oh...I suppose we co—"
Before Kakashi could even finish, Naruto had taken off towards the water. Sakura rolled her eyes in annoyance, but followed eagerly. Sasuke, emotionless as ever, followed in silence.
When the raven haired male reached the clearing, Sakura was already in the water up to mid-calf, hands on her hips and staring in annoyance at Naruto, who had stripped his jacket, shoes and pants off. He was in his boxer shorts and the black muscle shirt. Sasuke pursed his lips, noting the way that the sun seemed to dance off of Naruto's skin.
"Come on in, Duck! The water's AWESOME!"
As if to emphasize his point, he splashed around animatedly in the water, grinning like an idiot when Sakura yelped and jumped back.
"You splashed me!" She yelped. Naruto just snickered like an idiot and splashed her again. Sakura, instead of yelling at him again, simply laughed and splashed him back. Kakashi was leaning against a tree, in the shade, reading his book. Same old same old. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and made up his mind. It was really hot out, and they had been walking and training for a while now. And the water looked nice...
Sasuke sighed in defeat and kicked his sandals off, followed by his shirt. Naruto glanced up and immediately flushed at the sight of Sasuke shirtless. He covered it up by diving underneath the water, resurfacing a moment later with a trout in hand, grinning like an idiot.
"Oi, I caught a fishy!"
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose, now completely soaked form earlier.
"Naruto, are you 2? Fishy?" She smiled despite herself, but the smile was short because Naruto had thrown the fish at her. She screeched and jumped out of the way, bumping into Sasuke who instinctively reached out and caught her before she fell into the water. Naruto looked away at this, but not before he caught Sakura flush a deep crimson and giggle like an idiot. A splash alerted the blonde that Sasuke had probably dropped her. He grinned despite himself and turned around, swimming up to Sasuke and standing up, glaring at him. Sasuke was a bit taller than him, but Naruto wasn't going to let that stop him.
"What are you looking at, you idiot?" Sasuke grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Naruto tried desperately not to look at Sasuke's glimmering skin.
"You're a real downer, you know that? You should loosen up."
And before Sasuke could even open his mouth, Naruto had tackled him into the water. Sakura yelped something about not touching her Sasuke, but the words were lost in the water. Naruto had expected Sasuke to push him away and resurface angrily, but that's not what he got. The water had been up to mid-waist on Naruto, so fairly deep. As they sank down, Sasuke's lips somehow found his, and the embrace was held, Sasuke's hands firmly grabbing Naruto's shoulders. Then, it was all over. Naruto was left under the water, wondering what in the name of Kami had just happened, as Sasuke resurfaced, shaking his head and coughing slightly. When Naruto resurfaced, he simply stared at Sasuke, his cheeks ignited a dark crimson, dark enough to match Sakura's. Sasuke simply shot him his signature glare, before he spat out,
"What the hell was that for, Dunce?"
Sakura waded over and stood in front of Naruto, no doubt about to yell at him for, "Almost hurting her Sasuke-Kun!" But Naruto wasn't listening. Sasuke was standing behind Sakura, his arms folded over his chest and a sly smile on his face. Naruto scowled at him, and he could have sworn that Sasuke winked at him. The scowled washed away, and he was brought back into focus when Sakura waved her hand in front of his face, shouting,
"Hello!? Are you even listening to me!?"
~End Flashback~
Naruto laughed softly at the memory, the sound almost foreign to him now. Those days seemed so far away. He couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Sasuke had stayed. Could all of this have been avoided? Probably.
Naruto scowled softly, picking up another rock and throwing it into the water, watching as it fell in with a loud, "Sploosh!" and watching as the ripples waded out from the disturbance. It was no secret that he had loved Sasuke. In fact, it was probably more obvious than Sakura's hair colour. Taking a deep breath, he noticed that the rain had stopped. He slowly stood from the rock, and turned to leave, when a figure standing in front of him stopped him. Sai. Naruto frowned. He wasn't in the mood for chit-chatting.
"He meant a lot to you, didn't he? Sasuke?"
Naruto sighed, fighting back the urge to tell Sai to go to hell. Instead, he replied with a soft, "Yeah."
Sai nodded, his arms crossing over his chest as he walked towards Naruto, standing in front of him, his pale face void of any emotion, as usual. In a way, it kind of reminded him of Sasuke. Not a lot, just a bit. Naruto looked away.
"You miss him."
Once again, Naruto bit his tongue, "Obviously."
Sai just nodded silently, before clearing his throat awkwardly. "I, uhm, read in a book that sometimes hugging is good for making people feel better."
Naruto arched an eyebrow. Sai moved closer, lifting his arms and hesitantly pulling the blonde into an awkward, stiff embrace. Naruto laughed softly despite himself. Sai just pulled away and gave him a weird look.
Naruto just shook his head, "Thanks, Sai. If you don't mind, I wanna be alone."
Sai just nodded and watched as Naruto moved past him, out of the clearing and back down the path through the woods.
The rain had caused a fresh, pine scent to coat the area, and Naruto took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind. After walking a little ways, he found another small clearing and turned into it. He sighed softly, before dropping down to the damp ground, sprawling out and staring blankly up at the dark sky. His eyes stung slightly. It was almost like he had cried all the tears he had in his body.
He laced his fingers behind his head and rested on his arms, staring up at the sky, trying to relax. One thought moved through his fuzzy mind, loud an clear.
Why Sasuke?
Well...That's it. YES There will be one more chapter, and I swear that's it! I love this story. xD I hope this chapter didn't fail as much as I think it did. Anyways, thanks for reading this crap!