Naruto sat in bed, biting his thumbnail, and staring at a picture of him and Sasuke from before his coma. His eyes kept going out of focus, but after a few seconds passed and he noticed, they would focus again and he would go back to looking at Sasuke.
Tomorrow was the day he was going to admit to Sasuke how he felt. Tomorrow could possibly be the most important day in his entire life. Sai had told him to go for it—after having shouted a 'finally' about Naruto saying he was gay, since he'd forgotten Sai hadn't known yet—and Ino had told him the same thing.
"But what if this is a bad idea?" he whispered to himself for what felt like the millionth time. He was so scared that he was going to lose Sasuke's friendship. Being rejected wasn't that big of a deal to him, it was the friendship that he was worried about. He didn't want Sasuke to flip out and tell him he could never love him like that, and that it was wrong, and that Naruto was disgusting.
The blond sighed, putting the picture down and bringing his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. His door opened and he looked up, startled, his mother poking her head in.
"Sweetie, it's almost two in the morning, what are you still doing up?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking." He smiled. "I'll go to bed, sorry."
"Don't be sorry, what's the matter?" She sat down on the edge of his bed, noting the picture on the night stand.
"Nothing's the matter."
"Honey, you can talk to me." She rubbed his knee with a smile. "I just want to help."
The blond hesitated, but he really needed someone else to talk to. As he opened his mouth to explain the situation, his throat dried, realizing his parents didn't know he was gay yet. Could he really tell his mother right now and then have to admit his feelings to Sasuke tomorrow? He only had so much of a supply of guts. She's my mother, she'll understand.
"Mum, I—first I need to tell you something." He wrung his hands together, avoiding her eye. "And no matter what, please promise you'll always love me."
"Sweetie, of course I will." She smiled, moving closer to him. "What is it?"
"I'm, uh..." He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, this is hard for me to say to you because you're my mother and I don't want to lose you." he clenched his blankets in his hands, taking a deep breath. "I'm gay."
"I know."
He looked up, completely stunned. She laughed at the look on his face, ruffling his hair.
"Sweetie, I think the only person in your life who doesn't know you're gay is Sasuke. Unless you've told him, that is. And the only reason he wouldn't know is because he's in denial himself of being gay."
"Does everyone know?!" Naruto asked, throwing his arms in the air. "My friends at school acted like it was no big deal, Sai shouted 'finally' when I told him, and now you?!"
"Naruto, the way you and Sasuke are, I'm surprised more people didn't know. Now," she hit his leg lightly. "What seems to be the problem?"
"Well, I want to tell Sasuke how I feel." he admitted.
"But you're scared of losing his friendship?"
"I don't know what to do." the blond whined, leaning his head back against the headboard and sighing loudly. "If I don't tell him, I'll go insane, and if I do, well—things might not turn out the way I was hoping."
"You'll never know if you don't try, honey." Minako kissed his forehead as she stood. "But it's up to you. Sasuke's a true friend, he'll always be there for you, no matter what."
"Right. Thanks, mum."
"Of course. Have a good night." She turned off the light as she reached the door, exiting the room. Naruto took it as his cue to get to sleep, so he lay down and closed his eyes, trying to decide what he should do.
"I'm so ready for this!" Kiba hollered as he shifted his weight from side to side. He then fell flat on his ass as the soccer ball hit him right in the face. "Oh my God!" he sat up, both hands holding his nose. "Ow!"
Ino smirked slightly, flipping the end of her ponytail back over her shoulder. "Sorry, dog-face. Better luck next time."
"You did that on purpose!" Kiba hollered as he grabbed the soccer ball and threw it at her, looking insanely ridiculous still sitting spread-eagle on the grass inside the goal.
The weak throw was easily stopped by Ino's foot, and she started bouncing it on the top of her foot before transferring it to her knee and then alternating legs.
Naruto just watched from the side of the field, enjoying the light breeze as he sat back on the grass. Sasuke was making his way towards him from the left, holding a coke. When he reached his friend, he sat down beside him, looking out at Ino, who was now taunting Kiba by keeping the ball out of his reach with some fancy footwork.
"I thought you were going to play."
"Kiba said there weren't enough people here yet." the blond informed, smiling at the brunette's inability to stand on two feet without falling over. "And I'm having too much fun watching Ino destroy Kiba's pride."
"Poor thing." Sasuke smirked, taking a sip of his drink.
"Also, I wanted to talk to you, so I guess this kind of worked out nicely."
The raven turned to Naruto, looking confused, but the blond kept his gaze on the two in front of him, fighting for the ball. He gripped the grass in his hands, clenching his jaw. He could do this, he just needed to word it properly.
"You know—back when I admitted I was gay, how I didn't want to look at you?"
"Yeah." Sasuke looked out at Kiba and Ino, too, since looking at Naruto when he wasn't looking back felt odd. Especially considering the turn this conversation had just taken.
"Well, I was scared of seeing disgust. I didn't want to know that you thought it was wrong for me to be gay. And then when you didn't react like that, I was—relieved." Naruto looked down, now, at the blades of grass. He could do this. "The truth is, Sasuke... I think I've liked you since before I was even aware of the fact that I was gay."
The raven's eyebrows shot into his hairline, and he turned to look at Naruto, who was still looking at the ground, his jaw clenched.
"What?"
"I like you, Sasuke. A lot. I think some part of me always has." Naruto whispered.
There was a tense silence after that admission, and the blond thought he was going to go insane. When he finally couldn't take it anymore, he figured it was the end of their friendship, and just stood up to leave.
Sasuke grabbed his wrist.
"Naruto, please don't go." the raven whispered, forcing Naruto to sit back down. "I'm flattered that you like me, Naruto, I really am. And to be honest, it makes me a little happy, because you're my best friend."
But... Naruto thought sadly.
"But I'm sorry, I'm not like that, and I don't see you that way." Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, the blond refusing to look at him. "I'll never not be your friend, though, so you're stuck with me. And I'm not going to be weirded out if you hug me or wrestle with me. Though if you grope me, try and make it look like an accident, will you?" He chuckled slightly. Naruto smiled a bit.
"Thanks, Sasuke."
"I really am sorry, Naruto." the raven felt like his heart was ripping itself apart. He attributed it to guilt, and the look on Naruto's face.
"It's okay." He turned back to Sasuke, finally, a brilliant—and fake—smile on his face. "I'm glad you're still going to be my friend. I just needed to get that off my chest."
The blond leapt to his feet, running towards Ino and Kiba, yelling that he wanted to play. Sasuke watched from the sidelines, feeling like a jerk, knowing he'd really hurt Naruto's feelings. But what am I supposed to do? Lie to him? I don't like him in that way, we're best friends. He'll always be the most important person to me, no matter what. That's enough, isn't it?
"Hey, Uchiha." Sasuke turned to see Neji coming towards him.
"Hey. You're actually going to play?" Sasuke sounded sceptical.
"Don't be an idiot, I just came to watch." Neji groaned as he sat down beside Sasuke and stared out as the three passing the ball to each other. "How's he been doing?"
"As far as I can tell, he's been good." Sasuke admitted. "I can't believe he's already back on his feet. And playing soccer, too."
"Yeah, it seems pretty amazing." Neji agreed as Kiba ran towards the goal and kicked the ball. It bounced off the sidepost and rebounded into his face, sending him flat on his ass. Ino and Naruto almost died laughing, slapping their knees and trying to ask if Kiba was okay in between gasps for air.
"Wow. Kiba's hit a new low in my book." Neji stated with a smirk.
"Kiba's always been at the bottom of my list." Sasuke grinned. "Kiba is—you know, Kiba, after all."
"I suppose."
"Hey." They both looked up as Shikamaru headed towards them, his hands in his pockets.
"Hey. Did you come to play?" Sasuke inquired. Shikamaru stopped beside him, staring down at him.
"Did you really just ask me that?" The boy fell onto his butt and then lay down, looking up at the clouds.
"Right, stupid question. I feel like Kiba." The raven looked back out at the three playing, Naruto getting ready to do what Kiba had just shown him.
"Make sure you don't copy him exactly, Naruto." Neji called.
"Fuck you, Hyuuga!"
Naruto laughed, shaking his head. He started running towards the goal with the ball, kicking it when he was close enough. He hit a small dip after his kick, taking a weird step, and fell over, hitting his head hard against the goalpost.
Sasuke and Neji were on their feet instantly, Shikamaru sitting up to figure out what the hell had just happened. Ino and Kiba bolted for the blond, rolling him onto his back.
"Naruto! Naruto, can you hear me?!" Kiba exclaimed, shaking him slightly.
"Move!" Sasuke practically bowled Kiba over in his haste, getting on his knees beside Naruto and hitting his cheek lightly. "Naruto? Naruto, can you hear me? Naruto! Wake up!"
Panic gripped him as the blond lay unconscious on the ground, Ino saying something about going to get the nurse. The raven's hands started shaking as he shook Naruto, repeating his name and slapping his face. He was near hysteria by the time the nurse arrived, and downright insane when an ambulance was called.
It took Shikamaru, Neji and Kiba almost three minutes to pry his hands off of Naruto so the paramedics could get him into the ambulance.
Naruto groaned, his head turning to one side as his eyebrows furrowed. He felt a strange, uncomfortable sensation in his chest, and forced his eyes open. They were unfocussed for a few seconds, and then finally cleared to show him a white ceiling that didn't belong to him. He looked to the side and saw a window with the blinds closed. It appeared to be night outside.
Right... I fell... I must be in the hospital, the blond thought as he struggled to sit up. His chest was killing him. He rubbed his eyes, looking around. They landed on Tsunade, who was sitting beside him bed, fast asleep in the chair. He supposed she'd been worried about him.
"Nana." He cleared his throat, his voice having come out scratchy. "Nana."
The woman started, since he'd been much louder the second time, and opened her eyes, looking up at Naruto. Relief flooded her face and she leaned forward, hugging him tightly.
"Naruto. Thank God, you're alive."
"Of course I'm alive, why wouldn't I be?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow, hugging her back. Why did these clothes seem familiar?
"What are you talking about?!" Tsunade leaned away from him, her hands on his shoulders. "Sasuke put his hand through your chest with a Chidori! If Sakura hadn't shown up when she did, you'd have died for sure! I told you Sasuke was no good, I'm going to have him put to death for this!"
Naruto's blood ran cold at her words, his eyes wide. "What?!" He threw the covers off of himself and got unsteadily to his feet, rushing to the window and opening the blinds. He almost died when he saw Konoha, just the way it had been when he'd left. Or had he left?
"Naruto, you shouldn't be standing! Even with the Kyuubi, you're still very injured!"
"I don't understand." he whispered, feeling dizzy. "I don't understand what's happening!" He turned to Tsunade. "Which world is real?!"
"This is all my fault." Kiba whispered, his hands buried in his hair. "Fuck! If I hadn't asked him to play..."
"This isn't your fault, Kiba." Ino said firmly. "It was an accident."
"And we still don't know anything for certain, we should all remain calm until we hear some news." Neji insisted.
The three of them, along with Shikamaru and Sasuke, were sitting in the hospital waiting room, Naruto's parents having been called. Tsunade was currently checking Naruto's condition, but based on his lack of response, things weren't looking very good.
Sasuke was just sitting on his own at the end of a row of chairs on the opposite side of all his friends, his hands covering his face. If Naruto went back into his coma, Sasuke didn't know what he would do. It was just cruel for the blond to be awake for such a short period of time before going back into his slumber. Sasuke grit his teeth.
"Ino, you don't understand! Naruto's parents are going to blame me!"
"It wasn't your fault." Sasuke whispered, all four turning to look at the raven as he brought his hands down from his face. "It's mine."
"Sasuke—"
"It's my fault, Ino!" Sasuke snapped, turning to her. She closed her mouth, staring at him. "He told me he liked me, and I said I didn't like him back. And then he hit his head and suddenly he's not waking up? I was his anchor, right? Well I guess I'm not anymore." He buried his face in his hands again, feeling tears in his eyes. "Fuck, I messed everything up!"
"Sasuke, this isn't your fault, either." Ino insisted firmly. "This is nobody's fault, it was an accident."
"Tell that to Naruto's parents when they get here." he whispered.
"Sasuke." All five looked up as Tsunade appeared, her face grim. "I can't reach my daughter or Arashi, could someone please go to their offices and tell them they're needed at the hospital?"
"I'll go." Ino offered, standing up.
"Yeah, I'll go with you." Shikamaru stood, as well.
"You can go get his mother. I'll go to Mr. Uzumaki's office." Neji stated as he also stood, turning to Kiba. "Can I borrow your car?"
The brunette held his keys out numbly, Neji taking them and the three disappearing down the corridor. Tsunade looked at Kiba, concerned, then put her hand on his shoulder.
"Kiba, nobody is going to blame you for this."
"Nana, I'm the one who asked him to play soccer!" Kiba insisted, looking up with tears in his eyes. "How am I going to explain this to his parents?!"
"Kiba, Naruto could've been coming down the stairs and tripped and hit his head on the banister, and the same thing would've happened. This isn't your fault, do you understand me? It was an accident. It could've happened anywhere."
"Is he okay?" Kiba asked in a small voice.
Tsunade's lower lip shook and she bit it hard before replying. "It doesn't look good."
"Oh God." Kiba buried his face in his hands, his voice cracking. "Oh my God."
Sasuke stood up, rushing past Tsunade. She made no move to stop him. She didn't have the heart to even try to stop him.
The raven ran down the corridor as fast as he could, the nurses yelling at him not to run in a hospital, but he ignored them. He reached Naruto's room and slammed into it, scaring a nurse half to death as she inspected his monitors.
"You really shouldn't be in here. Only immediate family is—"
"I am family." Sasuke growled, sitting down beside Naruto and grabbing his hand. Fuck, he looked exactly the same as he did for those two years when he was unconscious. The only difference was that he was in a hospital instead of at home.
"Come on, Naruto." Sasuke squeezed his hand tighter. "Come on, don't do this. Listen to me, and come back. You did it before, and you can do it again. Listen to me, dammit!" He stood up, shaking Naruto. "Naruto, wake up! Don't fucking do this to me! Don't do this again!"
"Sasuke!" He turned towards the door, breathing hard with tears on his face. He hadn't even realized he was crying. "That's not going to help." Tsunade walked up to him and gently pried his hands from the front of Naruto's smock. "Come on, let him go."
Sasuke panted as he struggled to make his fingers obey the command his brain was sending out, finally letting the blond go and falling back down onto the chair, covering his face with his hands.
"Don't do this to me, not again." he whispered, his hands shaking. "Come back."
"Naruto—"
"No! I'm not crazy! This place doesn't exist, it's all in my head!" Naruto hollered at Tsunade as she grabbed his shoulders.
"Naruto, you're delusional! You almost died, I understand. But this is your home! This place is real, Naruto!"
"No, it's not!" he insisted. "You don't understand, I'm in a coma! I have to be! I can't stay here, I have to go back!" he started hyperventilating. "I-I had friends. I had a family! I had—I had... Sasuke." His eyes stared at the ground as he recalled the last conversation he'd had with the raven. It had to be real.
"Naruto, listen to me." Tsunade had her hands on his shoulders again, and he looked up into her concerned eyes. "It wasn't real. Whatever scenario your mind came up with while you were unconscious wasn't real. I'm sorry, but this is how things are. Sasuke isn't your friend, he's an enemy who tried to kill you."
"No!" Naruto shoved her away almost violently. "I won't believe it! It was real! This is the dream! Not that! This is the dream!"
The blond turned and threw open the window, jumping out of it. Tsunade called for him to wait, to come back, but he ignored her. He jumped from roof to roof as fast as he could, breathing hard as he made his way home as fast as he could. He had to do this before the Hokage sent ANBU after him.
Oh, Christ, I'm already thinking like this world is real! This is the dream! It's the dream, and I can prove it!
Naruto was so confused. A part of him was wondering if this was really the dream, or if the other world was. After all, he didn't remember the other world, only this one, and he'd come back to this one. If he was really in another coma, wouldn't he have come up with a completely new story? This didn't make sense, dammit!
He reached his apartment and ran up the stairs, getting to his door and kicking it in, since he didn't have his key. "I can prove this is the dream." he insisted to himself as he rushed to his room.
He pulled open his closet and rummaged through it for his box of spare kunai, finally locating it and pulling it out. He took a kunai from the box and headed for the bathroom, putting it down on the sink before staring at himself in the mirror.
"If this is a dream, I can control it. If it's real, then I can't. When I pick up this kunai, and cut myself, it's not going to heal. I can control this, because it's a dream, and I say I don't have the Kyuubi inside of me. The Kyuubi doesn't heal me. Kyuubi is just a cat. My cat. It's not a nine-tailed demon. It won't heal me."
He hastily picked up the kunai and sliced into his forearm. Blood instantly started dripping to the ground from his large wound. He waited, staring. Nothing was happening. The Kyuubi wasn't healing it.
"I knew it! This is a dream! All I have to do is get back!" How did I get back the last time? he thought, furrowing his eyebrows. Then, it hit him. He'd died. All he had to do was die, and he could go back to his real world. To his mother, and father. To Sasuke.
"Everything will be okay. This will work." Naruto insisted as he brought the kunai to his left wrist. He hesitated, afraid it was going to hurt "dying" again, but he shook his head, took a deep breath, and slit his wrist. Blood instantly started flowing from the wound at a pace so rapid, Naruto was alarmed, until he remembered that this was a good thing. His hand slick with blood, he took the kunai from his other hand and slit that wrist, too, his vision already fading slightly.
He dropped the weapon to the floor and fell heavily on his ass, leaning back against the wall as he stared up at the light on the ceiling. He reached up with one hand, blood covering his tan skin.
"I'm coming back, Sasuke." he forced out. "Wait for me."
His vision darkened further before soon going black.
And Naruto died.
Sasuke rubbed his face as he sat in the chair beside Naruto's bed. Minako and Arashi were nowhere to be found. Their offices had been checked, their home, all the phone numbers available had been called, and still nothing. It was as if they'd disappeared off the face of the earth.
Bad time for them to have disappeared, Sasuke thought sadly. And then, a thought occurred to him. He stood up and went to the door, Tsunade standing near the nurse's station with a clipboard.
"Nana?" She turned to him. "Did you call Sai's house?"
"No, why?" She frowned, tucking her pen away as she handed the clipboard to the nurse beside her.
"I don't know, I just feel like Naruto said something about his parents going to Sai's house."
She nodded. "I'll give them a try, then."
The raven nodded back and returned to the room, sitting down beside Naruto once again and taking his hand. He squeezed it tightly, hoping that Naruto would come back, but it had been almost six hours, and he was still unconscious. He shook his head.
"If you're doing this to punish me, it's working." he whispered to his friend. "Come on, I've suffered enough. Joke's over. Wake up, or I'll kick your ass."
Naruto's heartrate, which had been steady since Sasuke had entered the room, suddenly started slowing down. Sasuke looked up at it with a frown, wondering if it was meant to be doing that. It seemed awfully slow for Sasuke's taste. He sat up straighter, wondering if he should go get help, but the help came for him, instead, when the screen suddenly flat-lined and an alarm went off.
The raven's eyes stared in shock at the flat line on Naruto's screen, the loud beep of the machine echoing in his ears. Naruto had flat lined. Having a flat line meant the heart had stopped beating. If the heart had stopped beating, that meant death, right?
"No! No, Naruto!" Sasuke screamed, shaking the blond. "Wake up! Don't do this!"
Sasuke was wrenched away as people started rushing into the room. He screamed, trying to get back to Naruto, but someone was wrestling him out of the room. Tsunade was already at Naruto's side, barking out orders.
"Naruto, don't you dare fucking die!"
AN: "I'm so glad this fic has no angst!" --Honestly, WHO did you think you were reading :P This is why Naruto's "And then, Naruto died" line was so plain way back when. I've been planning this from the beginning, kukuku.