A/N: This is just to help get my creative juices flowing since I seem to be really stuck on my other fic. Like, I have no idea why it's so bad. I have at least half of the chapter sitting in my folder, but I just can't seem to write as well as I need. So, hopefully this little one-shot will help me get back into the game.

Disclaimers: Friendship/Bonding. No pairing, No lemon, No gross stuff, Purely PG.

A Blooming Friendship

Can we ever become friends?

How does one become friends with something they don't like? Someone that they just can't get along with. Someone… that is the example of everything that you are not.

Are you in the wrong for hating them?

Are you in the wrong for wanting to drag them down?

Are you in the wrong for wanting just a taste of what they have?

Is it fair?

Two young boys sat in a grassy, torn up field, with the sun setting in the distance. Insects began their daily quest for food and nutrients in the humid air. The chatter of animal life grew quieter and quieter as each moment passed between the pair drawing heavy breaths.

The duo kept their tense silence. Neither wished to break it after such a heavy spar that nearly spilled into a dangerous use of ninjutsu. One panting heavily on his back with his arms spread out, while the other sat leaning his arm on his propped up knee, also taking in shallow breaths.

The boy sitting down, the apparent winner of this evening's spar, began releasing the tension built up in his muscles due to the intensity of the fight. He was hard pressed to admit it to himself, but these spars always pushed him to the edge. Physically, mentally… and emotionally.

The one on his back, the apparent loser, never released the tension inside himself. Instead, it only grew. An emotional being, he was. No matter what, he was always pushed over the edge emotionally when the two of them fought.

It was common to find the two like this in the late afternoon. Common enough, that those that took the path near the training field grew accustomed to their bouts. Bouts that they already knew what the outcome would be.

Passerbys at the edge of the training field looked onto the two boys and the field. Whispers, quiet conversations, bleeding over to the two. One of them listening intently, the other only keeping his attention around himself and his training partner.

"Looks like Sasuke won again, as usual."

"Is it that much of a surprise, he's an Uchiha. Only natural born talent and skill can outmatch one of them."

"Yah, and he's going against him. I wish he would stop so that he could focus on better things."

"Why doesn't his sensei spar with him instead? I'm sure it'd be better for the boy."

"I don't know. Knowing their sensei though, I'm sure he's up to important business with his status."

And the whispers continued. Each of them not wanting to say what was obviously on their minds.

Naruto threw his right arm over his face as he began to lose his grip. His fists tightening, and half formed tears wetting themselves on his black long sleeve training sweater. The usual bright orange jacket he would be seen wearing was discarded in hopes of preserving the fabric from the battle. He returned his arm to his side so as to not make Sasuke think he was crying because of his loss.

The tension inside him just kept growing with the silence, and Sasuke was becoming aware of it.

Sasuke looked back down at the space between his feet, lest he be caught staring at Naruto.

I guess we went a bit overboard today. Kakashi might be right, we need someone to stand by when Naruto and I decide to spar.

Finally starting to get his breathing back to normal, Sasuke took a deep breath in and sighed.

This time was different though. There was a moment where Naruto's chakra fluctuated that caused my sharingan to activate reflexively. I didn't know it then, but thinking back to it, I remember catching a glimpse of it before I closed my eyes to deactivate it. I didn't want to lose the bout to a technicality at the time, but I noticed that his chakra became dark, malicious even. Like he truly wanted to put me down.

The tension in the air became obvious as Naruto's breathing began to regulate itself, but never calming down all the way.

What is with him? Ever since I blacked out after I jumped in front of the idiot when Haku was going to attack him in Wave, he's been on edge. I could set him off a lot quicker than before, but why? What did I do?

Ever since the mission in the Wave country, Sasuke has been thinking introspectively more often. Thinking about his ambition, his life's mission. The only thing he has to do in his life, and the people around him.

From the report Kakashi gave, Sasuke knew that his heart had stopped beating. He had died on the battlefield. It was a life changing event, no one could dispute that. And yet, Sasuke walked out of the aftermath as if little had changed. But that's just what he showed others. In fact, a lot was changing for him.

For once in his life, he began to think about his life. Not just his mission, but how he has been living his life. How he's been treating those around him, especially Naruto. He was so different from Sasuke and yet the two were mere copies of each other.

Naruto had friends and people that wanted to hang out with him. He always had a smile on his face and was happy. He had no family to speak of, nothing to go home to.

Naruto wanted to scream at the world. He was finally able to get his breathing under control but the tension from within nearly made his arms shake.

Why, why is Sasuke so much better than me? Why! It's not fair, what has he done to earn their respect, their admiration? It's… it's not fair. I work hard. I work myself to exhaustion. Why can't I just beat him, why can't I just be better than him!

Naruto shook his head at his thoughts, not even registering his surroundings anymore.

I know that I'm just a nobody with no clan. I know that I wasn't born with talent like Sasuke. I wasn't born good looking like him, smart like him, strong like him. But can't I just be as good? If I work hard enough, I can be just like him. Right? Hard work can get you anything, right?

Sasuke narrowed his eyes on the boy next to him.

There's something going on, something more that I'm missing here. He can be spastic at times, but Naruto doesn't just fly off the handles like he did tonight. There has to be something.

A part of Sasuke's introspection in the past few months began leading the boy to be more empathetic. Or at least attempting to be.

Sasuke sighed internally.

I guess the only way to find out is to ask him.

Sasuke looked away before clearing his throat causing Naruto to suddenly stiffen as he was pulled from his thoughts.

"Listen," Sasuke started.

Alright, now what. You got his attention so you can't just leave it alone now because he won't stop pestering you about it. Fuck, I'm drawing a blank.

Naruto slowly sat up, whether it was from being sore because of the spar or how defensive he is now, and looked at Sasuke expectantly.

Sasuke began getting more nervous which caused his pause to grow even more, becoming uncomfortable for the young boy.

The raven haired boy absently scratched the back of his head while he continued to look at anything other than Naruto, "I, uh… I noticed that you've been acting weird since Wave, weirder than you normally are."

Naruto rolled his eyes and scoffed, resting his head on his hands while looking to the side.

Dammit. Good one Sasuke, you notice that your teammate is acting weird and you manage to insult him.

"Ugh, what I meant is that… it looks like there's something, um, bothering you. Since the mission. To the Wave country, I mean."

Naruto shook his head, still not looking at Sasuke. "Yah, what of it?"

Sasuke groaned, "Nothing idiot, just that it seems that there's something off and it's usually better to let it out rather than bottling it up. Whatever, it doesn't matter." He said, dismissing the conversation.

"Heh, that's rich coming from the guy that won't let anyone near him. Of course you'd blow it off too." Naruto shot back.

Sasuke snapped his head to look at Naruto fully, "Listen brat!" he spat. "I'm trying to be considerate here and you're being a dick about it!"

Naruto returned Sasuke's heated glare with an icy one. "I'm the dick?!" he shouted. "I'm not the one ostracizing his own team and insulting them at every turn, am I? If you wouldn't treat everyone like they mean nothing to you, then maybe you'd actually have friends instead of being all alone!"

All alone, with no one to go home to. A home that used to be filled with love and happiness. This is what flashed through Sasuke's mind with Naruto's statement.

"That's because they do mean NOTHING!" Sasuke screamed back. "Why should any of you mean anything to me when everything was ripped away by my brother! I'M ALONE BECAUSE OF HIM! HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!"

Naruto was shocked by Sasuke's statement. He had never learned what happened because he didn't care about any gossip. Gossip spreads lies, and lies hurt. And he knew that he just hurt Sasuke. He just didn't mean to.

"You wouldn't understand! You've been an orphan since birth with no one wanting to claim you! You wouldn't even be able to protect anyone you care about because you're so weak!"

Naruto turned his head away from the screaming Sasuke. "You shouldn't use your pain to inflict others with it." he whispered.

Sasuke was fuming now. What was once a desire to help his teammate, turned into a desire to direct his anger to his teammate. "What did you say?" he growled.

Naruto shut his eyes to prevent the tears from forming, "I said you shouldn't use your pain to inflict others with it!"

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Are you serious! Don't preach like you're any better than me! You're a hypocrite! Saying that I shouldn't use my own pain to hurt others, weren't you doing the exact thing when we fought?! You were angry with something and started to use me as an outlet!"

Naruto kept tensing as their argument continued. He had nothing to fire back at Sasuke, he was right. He used his own pain and directed it at Sasuke to hurt him.

"You're no better than me, idiot! So don't go on acting like you are!"

And suddenly, all the tension was released from Naruto as he twisted around and stared at Sasuke with tears in his eyes. "I KNOW THAT! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME BECAUSE I'M FUCKING TRASH! I WON'T EVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING! I CAN NEVER BE STRONG LIKE YOU CAN!"

Just like that, all the pressure surrounding the two boys evaporated with Naruto's revelation.

Sasuke didn't know what to say, he was shocked.

Na-Naruto has never said anything like that. He's always confident about himself. Why… Why would he think that?

Naruto kept his head facing Sasuke, but his eyes traveled to the ground. "I know that I'll never be able to match you in strength, or be as good looking as you, or just be as good as you. I know that I can't fully understand what you lost because I started with nothing. I know this already! I don't need you reminding me of it."

The gears in Sasuke's head reactivated, "I-is that why you've been so on edge since Wave?"

Why, I don't understand. He was able to beat Haku. He's been with me every step of the way and growing stronger at a rate that surprised even Kakashi! Why would he doubt himself?

Naruto just nodded.

"That doesn't make any sense! Why should you care about looking good, or being like me? You're not even ugly, and you're the one that beat Haku! How could you think that I'm that much stronger than you?" Sasuke just couldn't wrap his head around it. It made no sense. Naruto had more things than he did, more opportunities going for him.

"Because you have people acknowledging you without the hatred. That's all that I've ever wanted."

Sasuke didn't say anything, so Naruto continued.

"All my life, people have only thought of me as a pest. A nuisance. Just some brat to avoid. I've never had anyone care about me just because. Even the Rookie Nine. The only reason they hung out with me was either because you were with me or they didn't want to say no. They just tolerated me."

Naruto took a shaky breath to continue, "People want to hang out with you. They respect you, respect your strength. They've acknowledged you."

The blonde sighed, "I know that your family died, I didn't know that your brother killed them, but you still had someone who cared about you and loved you. Even if it was taken away."

Naruto looked back up in Sasuke's eyes, "I would give anything to have that, just for a moment. Even if it was taken from me and I never got to experience it. The acknowledgement is what I want. You are everything that I want, the type of person I want to be. I get angry with you because you're a reminder of that."

Sasuke's eyes widened as a light heat spread through his cheeks. He turned away to hide his blushing. It's been so long since anyone praised him like that.

"You shouldn't want to be like me. I want to be like you, someone that is headstrong and is willing to do anything to get what you want."

Sasuke turned his head back to see a shocked expression on Naruto's face. The boy decided to continue before he was interrupted. "You're always happy about something with a go lucky attitude. You never let anything get you down. Even with nothing, you're always positive about the future. Your strength went from almost nothing to nearly surpassing my own." He sighed, "I would rather even come from nothing than have it taken from me." That was something he never told anyone, and he didn't plan on it until now.

Naruto started to fidget. I guess we're more in common than we thought, maybe Kakashi sensei was right.

"Heh, I guess we want to be just like each other."

Sasuke was thinking the same thing, and it weirded him out. I've never felt like that with anyone. Not even with Itachi. He looked away towards the setting sun, "Yah, looks like it."

Naruto followed Sasuke's gaze to look at the beautiful sight. I… I don't know what to do. I kinda thought that we were friends before, but now. Are we even friends?

The duo fell into silence once more, not really knowing where to go from there.

Neither boys had ever felt this kind of connection with anyone. They have never poured their feelings out to another person, never felt as vulnerable around someone like this. Both Sasuke and Naruto hadn't felt a real friendship with anyone and couldn't figure out what it should be.

Antagonization, jabs, verbal insults, fighting. That is all that they knew how friends should be. Observing other people and their friendship is different than trying to learn who they are. Maybe it's time for their friendship to change.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Yah."

Naruto sighed, "I'm sorry for what I said. About you being alone and all."

Sasuke nodded, "Yah, I'm sorry for what I said about you. You're not weak, you are one of the strongest people that I know… and I want to be like that."

After the apologies were exchanged, the two fell into comfortable silence once more.

Some time passed and only a quarter of the sun peaked above the horizon, basking the clouds in an orange and blue hue.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Yah, Naruto?"

"You wanna… be friends?"

Sasuke smiled, "Yah, I'd like that."

A smile found itself on Naruto's face, one that warmed his heart.

Maybe Naruto would be able to truly call Sasuke his friend, maybe one day his brother. He would learn what friendships and bonds were. He would grow to care more about Sasuke as his friend.

One day, Sasuke will heal from his wounds that his brother inflicted upon him. One day, his bonds would regrow and he would learn to be close to people. He would come to consider Naruto as his close friend, and perhaps his brother. He would heal, as well as try to heal Naruto.

That night, a strong friendship would bloom from hatred and anger. That night, two boys would learn what friendship and bonds could create and how much it could strengthen them.

Someone may have things that you yourself are missing. Key facets that you lost or never had.

That same someone may be missing things that you have, something that they yearn for as you yearn for what they have.

Two become friends from an understanding in each other and oneself.

To have a friendship is to have a bond with another complex being.

Friends hold you up while you hold them up. Friends are by your side as you are by theirs.

To live with nothing but friends, can truly be a worthwhile existence.

END

I hope everyone enjoys this, and I hope you get something meaningful out of it. This was all written out in one night without any editing. Hopefully it'll get me off my ass and start working on my other projects.

Anyway, this was an enjoyable experience. See yall in the next one!

Ja Ne!