Title: The Holding Game
Genre: Angst/Suspense
Rating: T

Synopsis: While training in the forest one day, Sasuke and Naruto's pathological need to compete with one another causes them to commit a horrid act; after which their guilt and fear prompts them both to hold the biggest secret of their young lives.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Stephen King, LoL.

The Holding Game
by Yamichik

(:Chapter 9:) The end of the whole mess

Naruto had time to reflect now. He had quiet and time to think as much as he needed. He thought it'd be a good thing. It wasn't. Every second he spent alone that first night after confessing, had felt like an hour. He spent most of his time asking himself why he had done each and every thing he had. Why he broke the rules, why he competed so relentlessly with Sasuke, why he had lied, why he let Kakashi sensei take the fall, and why he hadn't told that Sasuke was involved. He couldn't come up with any real answers.

Despite the circumstances, surprisingly Naruto's mind was at ease the day that Sakura came to see him. He didn't even smile when he saw her.

"Naruto, hi!" she greeted him as cheerfully as she could. He just nodded. She came forward and hugged him, slightly surprised when he didn't hug back. They sat down across from each other at a table outside in the visitation area.

"I… I really can't believe this." She said.

"What, that I'd let Kakashi sensei get put away for my crimes? Or that I'd end up in jail for killing someone?" he said.

"You're not in jail, you're just in a juvenile holding place." She said. "They haven't convicted you of anything yet." The two of them were silent for a minute as they looked around anxiously.

"You know you didn't do this whole thing by yourself." She said. "Why didn't you tell them about Sasuke?"

"I don't know. I guess I was thinking of what he said." Replied Naruto.

"What he said?"

"Yeah… he said that if this got out, it'd be the end of our lives." He shrugged. "I guess I didn't want to ruin his life too." Sakura looked up and took a deep breath. She exhaled and smirked at Naruto. Naruto… what a guy. Willing to do anything to save a friend. Even if he hated Sasuke, he'd still hold it down for him even if it caused things like this. Sakura stared at her hands on the table and fought the slim smile that was forcing her lips.

"Well, it's not like that matters much now." she said. Naruto gave her a puzzled look followed by a short pause. "Sasuke got caught this morning." She lifted her eyes to him slowly as she couldn't fight the smile anymore.

"What? But I didn't say anything about him, and it's only been one day. How?" Replied Naruto.

"Apparently, they found a kunai with his prints on it stashed up by the falls a while ago. The results came back, and the name on the paper was Uchiha, Sasuke. They found the evidence a while ago though, the testing just took some time.

Naruto couldn't believe it. After all of this, Sasuke had ultimately gotten himself caught right from the beginning. He had been given enough rope, and he eventually hung himself.

"I guess it's safe to assume from that smile on your face that you're not in love with him anymore." Said Naruto.

"Well..." she started. "I saw a different side of Sasuke during all of this. It almost made me hate him... Yet I still-" she paused, looking away for a second. "I still have to hope that that wasn't the real Sasuke... It just couldn't have been, right Naruto?" He didn't respond, he just sighed. It was going to be hard for her to accept this; he could tell.

"I can't believe it ended like this..." he said, changing the subject.

"It's not over yet Naruto, besides you didn't cause this on your own." She looked away again. "Don't feel bad, Sasuke's days were numbered from the start. He's being held now." She said in a matter-of-fact tone. The sound of the gates slamming broke their conversation.

"I guess I was a little late. Visiting time is over." She said.

"Yeah." He agreed.

"I'll see you later." She said as she got up. "Keep your head up Naruto."

She left after that and Naruto returned to his room. On the way back, he couldn't help but notice a new guy being lead down the hall. It didn't click until a second later that this new guy was none other than Sasuke.

Naruto stared straight at him as they passed each other. He didn't say a word to him, but as Sasuke walked past him in cuffs, he suddenly didn't need to speak. It was like the very air was holding all of the tension between them and Naruto was absorbing it without even having to look at him. It snapped within him and forced him to look away. He had decided. He was done with this, no more talking about it. He was tired. Besides, Sasuke's eyes reflected all the pain and wrong they had gone through, and that was more than Naruto was willing to take in again. Sasuke was on his own with it now; the holding game was finally over. But to Naruto, even though he and Sasuke clearly were the losers, there truly were no winners in this game.

The End

The Holding Game

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Hi guys! Well, that's it. I finished it, LoL. I'll have to explain about the long long wait! It's just that classes were starting and I suddenly had so much to do, LoL.

I would love to thank all of you who read this story. You just don't know how long I had wanted to contribute to this website, and now I have, and even though it's just a simple fanfic posted on a website… I feel more accomplished in a way, LoL.

Once again, thank you for reading the story and I hope you enjoyed reading every chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. So what do you say? How about some goodbye reviews for the road? You know I love it… breaks out the tissues

Love always,
-Sabs