Author's Note PLEASE, PLEASE READ: I'm getting really good at making these things interesting enough to read, I think! Anyway, the amount of reviews for this story is disappointing to say the least. I've heard from some of you that it's high in quality compared to a large amount of the fics on these sites, yet still so few new people comment. I want more. Please don't make me beg. Or else I won't tell you that the next two chapters are nearly done and have been for a while . . . oh, wait I just did. Well, how about hot sex then? Ah, that got your attention. It figures, you perverts. That's okay, I'm a pervert too. Just ask me what my Economic Stimulus Plan to aide the beleaguered U.S. economy is based on.

By the way, I'm of the seemingly small community that believes rape, when done in a fic, is supposed to be done the right way, or it's vastly offensive. I don't mind reading it, if it's part of the plot, like when there's a change in a character's personality, a sudden fear of touch or to explain trust issues. They make sense. These horrible fictions, that comprise all but maybe two, turn the victim into some kind of deviant who likes being raped halfway through (that is so much like all those disgusting hentai anime that do the same thing, it's not at all worth reading). Either that or they somehow fall in love with the rapist (mainly when it's a SasuNaru fic), which, let me just say only makes sense if you combine the trauma with Stockholm syndrome. If you don't know what that is, please look it up, it would take too long to explain here. Also, the stuff that should come after: lack of self-esteem and self-worth, depression, possible self-injury or the possibility of sex turning into near prostitution because that's how they see it now NEEDS to be researched a bit if the author wants to make it credible. Before you chew my head off at having the gall to berate people on this topic, I know what I'm talking about. The rape itself in a fic isn't a problem, generally, when done with tact and offering the full picture from start to finish.

Just to cool your heads, there will be NO rape in this fic, but it DOES come up in my other one, which is why I'm writing a message here, for those of you, if any, that read both. Also, I HATE the inclusion of words or terms like seme, uke or lime and lemon when dealing with sex between two men. I'm not ragging on others that use it, just letting you know you will never see me describe it like that. I pride myself on researching when I cannot imagine something and make it believable or when the situation calls for it, like with medical terms and such, so the sex in my stories is as realistic as possible to real sex, not movie, or yee gods, porn sex, which is in many fictions I've read (the number is in the thousands by now). God, I'm rambling.

Animelover, I'm so glad you changed your mind! 

The song Naruto plays near the end is called 'The Promise', or 'The Sacrifice'. There's another term for it, too, but it's also the title of Chapter 15 so watch for it. I've included a URL for it, please use it as I think it adds to the emotion of the moment. Thanks and happy reading! .com/watch?v=hdWLwRexMRA

Chapter 13

The Hunted, the Haunted

Naruto walked down the darkened hall slowly. There was tension in the air, thick and viscous, like wading through water. He did not want to be here. The door at the end of the hall was open wide and he could hear the sounds of thick fluids slapping against the wall, dull thuds and grunts accompanying them. Taking a few huge, gulping breaths, he steadied his hand on the frame before rushing in, kunai drawn and held in a forward guard. The sight that greeted him made him want to vomit, then claw at his own eyes till they bled just as garishly as the stuff covering the walls. Hiroku was against the far wall, slapping blood across the room every time his hand came down, what looked like a knife clenched in his hand. Naruto couldn't really tell; there was so much blood. It stained part of the floor at Hiroku's feet and splattered everything else in wide arcs. Some had even gotten it on the ceiling. What kind of animal had so much blood in their body that it could do this? The smell was sweet and metallic and awful; dead things release gases into the air that mix with everything else, a poison so virulent it can haunt countless nights for even the most staunch of men. So what that Naruto was among that number. This man, he couldn't be here, right? Hiroku was dead . . . right? But, the smell, it was so real.

Hiroku continued to stab the creature until Naruto called out to him.

"Hiroku!" his voice rang off the walls shrilly and Naruto had to fight to keep from cringing. Hiroku's head snapped up and the man smiled eerily at him. Naruto did not fight the shudder this time. Craning his neck a little, Naruto managed to catch a glimpse of the body on the floor, small as it was. He gasped loudly and was nearly sick all over again. Sweat broke out coldly all over his skin and he choked back the bile rising in his throat. Breathing as much as possible through his mouth, Naruto wiped a hand over his face and neck, horrified. He couldn't stop his breathing from coming faster and faster into his chest. It hurt, breathing like that, the walls of his ribcage aching and protesting the exaggerated motion. The body on the ground, the small infant; it was him. He drew the kunai back and prepared to run at the deranged man in front of him when he disappeared. Shaking his head a little in confusion and to clear the darkness overwhelming his vision, Naruto looked up again. His father stood there looking grimly down on him, impossibly tall.

"D-dad? Otousan?" Naruto stuttered out weakly. For the first time in his life, he had the chance to say that word and it was here, with his father angry and the dark pressing into him from all sides.

"Dad? Please, please tell me what's happening," Naruto begged softly.

"Naruto," Minato's voice was strong and filled with ice, but Naruto couldn't help closing his eyes at the sound of his name. If this was a dream, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, staying here. The Yondaime's next words crushed his hope and left it twitching on the floor next to his own frail little body.

"You have failed. You were supposed to protect them. Didn't I make you the perfect weapon? Did I not entrust you with a great power? Spineless . . . little . . . boy," Minato bit out wretchedly. Naruto backed away from him slowly, his legs responding like weighted sacks of sand. Shaking his head as Minato advanced, he crept further backwards.

"No, no," Naruto murmured softly, shivering and sweating at the same time. "No, no, no, please, please, don't do this."

Naruto tried to summon enough strength to pool chakra into his body, but it escaped him as quickly as he gathered it, unable to stabilize itself over the fear. Minato reached out and grasped Naruto's collar and he was lifted clear off his feet and far above the ground. Minato loomed over him and sneered in his face, breath as fetid as the corpse on the floor and eyes just as dull and cloudy.

"Die, my failure!"

Naruto felt searing heat engulf him again and screamed, raw and aching, until the fire had burned away the flesh from his whole body. He wanted more than anything to pass out, or disappear, to wake up, anything. Finally, Minato dropped his naked, smoking body onto the ground and turned to walk away, dragging his feet wetly as he went. Naruto watched him go and felt his body shaking roughly. God, he wished it would stop. It made the pain unbearable. But, the shaking continued until he realized it came from outside his body and Naruto finally opened his eyes.

Sasuke stared down at him worry clear in his eyes even in the dim light of early morning shadowing the already dark irises. Sasuke was breathing just as hard as Naruto was and that alone was disconcerting. But that look was what got Naruto to sit up, slowly. His body felt far too drained and out of synch with itself to move well. Sasuke helped him a little with a hand on his elbow. Naruto looked down on it and realized he wasn't the only one shaking. A glass of water appeared in front of his face, and Naruto reached for it gratefully, sipping slowly, as instructed, until it went away again. Sasuke's face swam back into focus and Naruto closed his eyes, feeling desolate. He'd had a nightmare that was all; a nightmare . . . while Sasuke had been in the room. Naruto opened his eyes and stared at Sasuke begging him not to ask. He watched as Sasuke rose from the bed carefully and checked the door before coming back to sit before Naruto.

Naruto tried to avoid his gaze but Sasuke cupped his chin with one hand and drew it up to look closely at him. Tilting his head to the side, Sasuke sighed slowly, opening and closing his eyes at the same moment.

"You had a nightmare," he said calmly.

Naruto rolled his eyes at his friend. It was painfully obvious to him what had just happened.

"You were screaming," Sasuke continued without pause. Naruto flinched and tried to look away again but Sasuke's hand under his chin prevented it.

"I think you need to tell me what happened . . . all of it. Or, if you can't, then let me see it, Naruto."

Naruto could tell that Sasuke was serious even in the weak light through the lone window at the back of the storeroom. The slats of the wooden shutter had been left partly open to let in the mellow breeze that had come up the night before. Naruto began trying to shake his head when Sasuke's lip began to tremble minutely. His hands had moved to cradle Naruto's face in his palms and Naruto grew a bit stronger for their warmth.

"Please, Naruto," he begged softly. "Please, please, I don't want you to die. This will kill you. It will," he choked out gently.

Slowly, Naruto nodded and then made the signs for 'see what you will'. Sasuke blew out a large breath and hung his head in relief. Breathing in expansively again, he picked his head up and the Sharingan blazed and swirled in his eyes, fully active, to bore into Naruto's.

* * * *

Madara stared down at the village sprawled before him disconsolately. Pain was now dead, he'd been informed. Konan had followed not long after. It had taken him years to groom that man. Sasuke had gone missing and was presumed captured by the enemy. Madara knew better than to make such baseless assumption. He knew where the boy was. There was still time to salvage the operation. They did have the King of Hell statue Pain had so graciously left for them, though they'd had to reform it. Madara had a special gift inside for that hapless demon bearer, the last Jinchuuriki, when he saw him again. No, he would not mourn the loss of Nagato so much as the loss of the enormous advantage that he, bearing the Rinnengan and a colossal rage, had promised. As things were now, they had less to work with to instill the amount of threat and garner the same kind of obedience, but there was yet the matter of the massive army that had only suffered a partial loss during the last assault on Konoha. They would succeed, however. They had to. Uchiha Madara would not fail in his task. He would have them all under his control, or they would suffer countless recriminations! He curled his fist tighter and tighter into his palm until the scent of blood reached his nostrils. The whites of his eyes could be seen clearly, not that there was anyone present in the room. A loud, near-shriek tore the air asunder and it was only moments later that a disoriented Madara realized that it had come from himself. He opened his hand while holding onto the wrist tightly with the other, only shuddering a tiny bit. No one had seen it, no one had noticed. Good, there were a few less ingrates he would have to smash and rend apart. He hated, absolutely hated inept behavior or loss of control. That he had been the one to nearly send a mammoth blast of chakra into and through the wall of the cave they'd fashioned into a temporary fortress, he ignored.

Zetsu strode in nonchalantly, a message scroll in hand. Madara straightened up and walked around the stone chair he'd been using. He spared no time worrying about how he'd ended up on the other side of it. To him, such a thing was meaningless compared to wasting the village he so hated and confronting the boy that had stolen the revenge he'd been working so long in pulling together from his grasp so effortlessly, the little shit. Zetsu passed wide eyes over his leader's body but made no comment and formed no expression that was anything but neutral. It was best do approach the one-eyed Uchiha that way. Bowing lowly, he offered the scroll toward him and retreated once it had been taken.

Madara said nothing at all, preferring to wait until the shadows had stopped moving on the wall to open the scroll. When he had read through its contents, he smiled grimly . . . then it grew to an insane and painful looking width. Soon he heard hysterical laughter and was only marginally aware that he was making the strange sounds.

"So, my old friend Danzou has shown himself at the last? Interesting, that he should provide me with information on their ninja, the post assignments and lists on techniques, just when I need them. The fact that so many troops have been called to the Daimyo's residence because the pompous oaf actually believes I pose a danger to him . . . How amusing. This will definitely prove useful to me, not that I hadn't already gained enough from Itachi, but useful, yes. They will be crushed now!"

Madara crinkled the pages of the message in his hand and forced chakra into the walls of his family's summer training grounds until they cracked. The hysterical laughter started again and, this time, Zetsu really did leave. He could not stay and keep the sanity of himself and his partner when faced with madness on the scale of Uchiha Madara.

A messenger hawk flew low and solid until it reached a window deep in the heart of Gure-pu Sawa. Tapping on the glass, the bird waited for a hand to scoop it up into the room. When none came, the bird, as it had been trained, repeated the gesture, then unfurled the leather thong tying the message container to its back and left it on the sill. All the messages from Konoha that Sasuke received were encoded so as not to be obtained by an enemy. Not that it was in his nature to ever miss something so important. But, the message remained on the sill, forgotten in all things but the minds of the ninja who had sent it. Sasuke had no knowledge of its contents, or the possible menace laying in wait for him and Naruto. A threat so eager and vile it could only come from the most amoral of humans.

* * * *

Sasuke walked down the same long hall inside Naruto's mind that he had once before. He could hear the fox in his pen, swishing tails and rumbling growls permeating the warm air. It felt different, a crackling energy held back behind something dark and swollen. Sasuke's skin crawled and goose-bumps formed on his skin. The hairs on his arms rose up and his breathing picked up in trepidation. Just what would he see? Nothing but the worst horrors could have driven Naruto so far away, he knew that. But, now that he was about to witness them, Sasuke pulled back, unsure whether or not he could keep going. Inhaling deeply, Sasuke pushed his feet into motion again and stopped before a door along the hallway that had not been there the last time. It leaked fear and pain so strongly Sasuke's skin wanted to run off his very body to flee from it. This one had to be it. Closing a hand over the iron doorknob, Sasuke had to force the door to get it to open. Once inside, he wished, fervently, more than he wanted to breathe life back into his dead mother and father, that he hadn't crossed the threshold. Scanning the floor, he noted the dry earth and the smell of sweat. There was a man inside with Naruto, only this pale, stinking mass of blood and power, perspiration running down every pore, was a slim imitation to the Naruto of now, or the Naruto of a year ago. Sasuke watched, appalled, as the torture unfolded before him, the man's words and his demonic aura singing across his body until it hurt. When the man performed seals for a genjutsu, Sasuke was pulled into it along with Naruto. What he saw there, the Yondaime's form and the others, Naruto's mother, left him speechless.

How Naruto had managed to survive the extended torture as well as this vision he had no idea. The fact that he had was a testament to true strength. Leaving the vision in a swirl of rage and pain and hate, Sasuke landed on his hands and knees painfully, coughing and sputtering. He looked up to view the end of Naruto's struggle, the fire, and Hiroku's death all the while fighting to keep his sweltering anger and the welling compassion he felt in defense of his friend from swallowing him whole. Staggering to his fit, he somehow found the strength to move back out into the hallway. Hearing the fox snapping his teeth and swishing its tails and the anger burning its way down to him from the end of the hall, he was glad he had no time or energy to stay. Sasuke collapsed back into his own mind and wanted to stay there, huddled in some corner of it, until the pain receded to a bearable level. But, there was Naruto to think about and what showing him those memories might have cost him.

Sasuke opened his eyes again to see a remarkably calm Naruto facing him. He wondered if what had just transpired had forced him back into his mind, unable to process the sheer magnitude of distress it was under.

"Naruto," he croaked out. Reaching up to brush his knuckles against the skin of Naruto's cheek, Sasuke felt its coolness and sighed. Naruto looked over at him beseechingly. An apology would not begin to cover over anything let alone provide any comfort. Sasuke settled for something that was truth.

"He's dead and you and I are still here. That's what matters now, right?" Sasuke realized too late the hypocrisy behind those words as Naruto, eyes flints in the dark, shoved him away.

"Okay, so I need to work on living by my own words once in a while, but damn it, I'm trying to help!" Sasuke cried frustratingly.

"I mean, it's not like saying 'I'm sorry' will make it all better. I don't how to do that!" Sasuke cried out, head bent low. A hand on his shoulder and he snapped it back up quickly. Naruto looked at him sadly and shook his head. Then he smiled with his eyes closed in that indomitable way of his. Sasuke sighed and smiled thinly in return. Naruto clapped the hand down on his shoulder once and leaned in to sigh against his shoulder.

"You mean that actually made it better?" Sasuke asked, amused. He heard a muffled snort and let out a short laugh. Naruto stiffened suddenly and sat up, eyes wide. He grabbed Sasuke's face and turned it from side to side. Then, he reached out and pinched him on the neck. Sasuke hissed.

"Ow. What the hell was that for? You moron," he growled.

Naruto beamed brightly at him and made a few hand signs quickly. Sasuke rolled his eyes to cover his embarrassment. Apparently, he'd never laughed in front of anyone before. Well, of course he hadn't. There'd never been a reason. Just like there'd never been a reason to smile without smirking. When there was nothing left to say, the air began to feel a little warm, uncomfortably mimicking the room Sasuke and Naruto had just been in. Naruto glanced at him apprehensively and looked away when Sasuke caught it. The silence was growing ominous and a hollow sheen began creeping back into Naruto's eyes when Sasuke captured something in his head, something they could do to alleviate the strain of the last few minutes. Taking hold of Naruto's hand, he began tugging him toward the door, shushing him as he went. For once, he wanted Naruto not to re-discover the joys of a voracious tongue. That thought gave him a very strange feeling in his stomach, so he ignored it. Heading out of the shop and down the street, they stopped in front of Akito's store and Sasuke banged a fist on it until the very tired and leery shop owner opened it.

"Akito-san, I am very sorry, but I need to use your piano. Oh, and I wondered if that book I ordered when we were in here a few days ago had come in yet," Sasuke tested a smile on the harried man who simply gaped at him.

"Sasuke, you do know what time it is, don't you?" he sputtered incredulously.

"Ah, yes, and I am sorry, but it's very important. Naruto is having trouble sleeping. Please?"

Akito tried to catch a glimpse of Naruto, who was doing his very best to wriggle out of Sasuke's hold and ignoring them both at the same time. The hollow look had gotten stronger and the shadows bruising the skin under his eyes did not escape Akito's shrewd notice, however. He let them in with a grunt of surprise and locked the door behind him as he went.

"I'll have to check in the back. I just got a shipment in from Mokuzai Nenshou no Toshi but don't get your hopes up. It's only been a few days after all," he groused, a bit disgruntled at having been woken up a full three hours before he normally had to worry about opening his shop. Sasuke waved him off and headed to the back of the main room with Naruto. Forcing Naruto down on the bench, Sasuke raised the fallboard then glanced around the shop.

"Ah. Let's see, you need music right?"

Naruto was struggling to look at him and Sasuke felt panic claw at his chest a little. Not now, not because of what he did. Please, don't disappear on me now. Finding a book that had music notes on the cover, Sasuke opened it to the first song he found and sat it down in front of Naruto. Then, he took up the small space behind him on the bench, spreading his legs out on either side of Naruto's. The song title read 'The Promise'. It was composed by someone named Michael Nyman. Sasuke had no idea who that was and didn't care. If it kept Naruto from slipping away again, he'd send the man his entire fortune. Naruto's fingers were curling into his hands so Sasuke unfurled them and set them on the keys. Seeing no movement, Sasuke studied the sheets of paper and tried to remember the notes and the other things Akito had mentioned when teaching Naruto the other day.

Struggling through the first few bars, Sasuke felt Naruto's fingers react and saw movement in his eyes when he glanced at them from the corner of his own. After a few moments, Naruto had taken over, with Sasuke's hands still on top. He made no move to take them away. It felt good, trying to match Naruto's motions with his own, their fingers sliding along each other smoothly. The music flowed slowly and enveloped them both. Sasuke leaned back eyes sinking closed and let it carry him. Soon, Naruto's body tilted and swayed in time with the piece and Sasuke followed. When the pace slowed to incorporate a different feeling, Sasuke leaned forward and brushed his lips against Naruto's neck. A note went flat and Sasuke covered Naruto's fingers again with his own lightly.

"Don't stop," he whispered. "Keep playing."

Naruto relented and continued to pulse out the music and Sasuke lifted his hands away. Running them up Naruto's arms until their position made it impossible for him to go further, he changed direction, resting them low on Naruto's hips and massaging them down his thighs then back up. Sliding them along Naruto's thin nightshirt, he listened as the music picked up in intensity and then, the song began to play again. Sasuke was careful, gently raising his hands up Naruto's sides while kissing down the side of his neck and back up to his face. Naruto canted his head to the side to meet Sasuke's mouth and they brushed together tenderly as the music slowed down again. A wave of something powerful engulfed Sasuke when he moved his hands further up and kissed Naruto again. Ghosting along Naruto's chest, Sasuke brought his hands around to his sides again when Naruto jerked forward and made a strangled sound in his throat.

"Huh? What?" Sasuke said hazily. Naruto's shoulders shook silently and Sasuke blinked, confused.

"Naruto, what?"

Then it hit.

"No way!" Sasuke couldn't help but snort out between fits of rising giggles.

"Naruto you . . . "

Naruto had turned in his seat as much as he could to glare vehemently, promising imminent death if he kept going. Sasuke couldn't resist.

"You're ticklish! Just in that spot, there," he pointed high up on his sides and let out a string of laughter he couldn't swallow. The laughter continued even as Akito came through the back with a book in hand scratching his head, puzzled. Naruto soon eked out quiet laughter as well and neither boy had taken notice of the store owner. Akito waited, feeling as though he was witnessing something quite special. Indeed, he had never heard either of them so content before. It was simple, maybe, but also precious, so he waited. Sasuke tumbled off the bench clutching his sides and Naruto was dragged down with him. Lying on the floor next to each other, Naruto and Sasuke chuckled and sniffed delightedly. Sasuke struggled to reach the same spot again and Naruto half-heartedly tried to fend him off. They kept at it until both began to wince a little at the pain in their sides. Naruto sat up when Akito coughed gently from behind the counter. Sasuke shot up as if he'd been caught stealing and swept his eyes down, mortified. Akito chuckled at them and then guffawed laughter until he felt tears streak down his cheeks.

"Well!" he crowed, "I haven't seen anything that cute since my grandson insisted that pomegranates were actually pom-poms that the school children no longer wanted so they had buried them in the fields to grow trees and fruit!"

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto with his head still down and saw him puff up like an injured bird. He snickered a little but soon realized why they'd had to stop as his sides ached pitifully. He frowned and smacked Naruto's hand away when he tried to grasp his fingers. Naruto peered over at him, eyes half-lidded and smiling devilishly.

"No," Sasuke said impishly, "we're going home, to bed! Maybe later." He got up and retrieved the book Akito held out for him and left quickly after paying, not bothering to wait for Naruto or say goodbye to the well-meaning older man. Naruto caught up before Sasuke had gone ten feet and their hands touched. Sasuke resisted the urge to push them together. But, Naruto would have none of it. He grabbed Sasuke's wrist and pulled him to a stop. Sasuke turned around and his heart twisted at the forlorn look in his eyes.

"Hmph, don't do that. I said we could do something later, if you want, so stop."

But the look persisted and Sasuke realized it must have been what he said, about this village being home.

"You want to go back don't you? To Konoha?"

Naruto nodded slowly. He made a few signs hesitantly and Sasuke read them all too well in the faint light of dawn. 'I want to see them again. I want to know how they are. I don't want to have to read it in one of your messages,' he signed.

Sasuke felt the guilt but pushed it back, staring at Naruto with desperation making his eyes darker. He looked away just as Naruto stepped close enough to take his other hand.

"Can't we . . . ," he started before his voice failed.

"Can't we just stay here? You like it here," he continued urgently, "It's beyond anything we've ever had before. I want to stay."

He finished firmly but knew in his heart that he had lost already. Naruto shook his head quickly and Sasuke felt the world rip away, from the air, to the sea, to the very ground he walked on. He didn't like the feeling. It was too close to how he'd felt when he'd come home by himself from the Academy training because no one had been there to pick him up only to find them all dead, massacred by the one person he thought could help him understand it. He did not want to leave but he knew that Naruto could not, would not, stay away any longer. Sighing, Sasuke touched a hand to Naruto's face and rubbed his thumb over his jaw.

"I will go with you. Not because I no longer think those bastards should all burn in eternal suffering, but because I can not live this life without knowing where this could go."

There was a suspicious sheen to Naruto's eyes and Sasuke watched him swallow visibly.

'You won't regret this. Things have only one way to go, now, anyway. You'll see. Kakashi will be able to help me sort out the truth from what they've been hiding. You can, too, right? I'm not worried. I want to see them again. I know they're not all responsible. They matter, too, Sasuke.'

All Sasuke could think was that he liked how Naruto said his name with his fingers and how he wrote it on his skin. He would leave a note for Koji-san and Hoku in the morning. They would leave at first light. It was easier that way. Maybe, sometime later, they could come back, and if Naruto managed to convince his friends that Sasuke meant no ill will, some of them might travel with them, as a sort of vacation. Of course, Naruto still wasn't talking yet. He might not ever regain speech and then they would be back sooner than he thought. Sasuke pushed that thought aside for when he truly needed it. They had enough to muddle through in their times together without borrowing more. Right now, he made his way around Naruto swiftly, smiling at his raised eyebrows.

"We're going to need a lot of music sheets, right? I have a feeling if you don't get hands on a piano yourself, you might be getting one as a gift in the near future."

Naruto's eyes widened considerably more than Sasuke had ever seen them and with his mouth open, he really had gone farther from the handsome boy Sasuke had come to know so well in the past weeks., He looked far too innocent and trusting, though it wasn't as if he couldn't handle himself even with injury upon insult upon injury. Sasuke smirked.

"Maybe I'll tell Akito you don't want any," he shrugged and slowed his pace to a sedate walk. Naruto rushed past him, planting a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth and drawing a few quick characters on his palm, before speeding back into the shop. Sasuke stood there, momentarily dumbfounded. He wanted to ingrain this instant in his memory as clearly as he could. Closing his eyes he reached down and traced the characters on his palm with his own hand, the remnants of Naruto's touch still faint there. 'You're beautiful.'

Sasuke smiled madly and raced after his friend, happy for the first time in many years.