AN: I am heavily re-editing this. The chapters were way too long as I thought if I did that, it would be done quicker and be shorter. No. This has turned into a huge project. I haven't worked on this for a long time, especially on this site since it wasn't very well received. I don't care. I'm not deleting the chapters so I don't lose those negative reviews I got in the beginning. I will use them for motivation. Haters are going to hate. I regret nothing.
If you previous read this story, you will realize these new chapters are just the previous chapters broken down and edited, but I do have some new content too, once I get through editing the beginning.
I will also put this warning here, that I didn't last time but I will now. This story is gay. Like everyone is like a least a little bit gay. Watcha gonna do about it? Review it? Good. Do it.
There is no hate here. Sakura is my favorite character.
I am Sakura. I love Sasuke-kun and I hate Naruto. This has always been true. From the beginning. For as long as I could remember, I was in love with Uchiha Sasuke. I don't even remember the first time I saw that beautiful raven-haired boy. It was too long ago, but I do remember announcing my infatuation to all my friends when I was six or seven, like I had just completed the most important task of my entire life.
"Don't tell us it's Sasuke, too!" cried one of the kids. Other people had noticed Sasuke-kun before I did. It's not much of a surprise when you really think about it. I was trapped too much in my fantasy world. I was never really aware of reality as a child. Somewhere, during the time of my infancy, my mother must have read me a princess story. One of those stories where the beautiful princess waits for a prince to save her and lives happily ever after with. That idea had griped me, for I was obviously no beautiful princess, or knew a prince, so I was doomed to never have something known as a 'happily ever after'. My two-year-old brain probably couldn't even decipher what 'happily ever after' meant. Of course not. Because I still don't know what it means. All I knew was that happiness was good, and I must have it.
The first problem of this horrid dilemma that my mother had so carelessly thrown upon me, was that I was not, in no way, an attractive child. Many people would most likely not believe me, but it is true all the same, the evidence of such buried deep in a photo album that I have been unable to burn. My mother sure knew how to hide such things from me. I had an enormous forehead for a baby, my eyes spaced out too far apart. My mother told me that when I was learning to walk, I went everywhere headfirst, walls, tables, floors, like I was too top heavy to stay balanced. Later in life I grew into my head, but the trait was something that I was so sensitive about as a kid, that I used to try to hide it in any way I could. My exotic pink hair just made it so much worse, as the unusual color would attract eyes, and then they would notice my extremely wide forehead.
Ino was the first friend I had. She was my rival. My sister. My drive. My confidence. Ino was pretty. All the pictures in my storybooks of princesses looked like her, flowing blonde hair and pale beautiful blue eyes. She taught me how to be an elegant princess. She taught me hiding my forehead made my problem worse. I should show off my traits with confidence. Confidence was attractive. Because of her, I felt pretty for the first time. She helped me complete the first part of my disillusioned "happily ever after". After that, all I had to do was find my prince.
My prince was Uchiha Sasuke of course. It had to be. He was the most skilled in just about anything in our age group: sports, grades, looks, ninjutsu, taijutsu, eventually genjutsu. He had the making of a real hero. He had all the skills. He would save me and make me happy.
Not Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto was a nobody. He sucked at everything, and he was loud, always getting into trouble. I didn't necessarily hate him then. Not really. I didn't know much of hatred since I was a young child, but as much dislike as I could feel for anyone was associated with him. It became worse when I realized the little freak had a crush on me. It was downright gross. I was the biggest hypocrite of all seven-year-olds ever. I was so hooked on the Sasuke-kun craze, dreaming of marrying him, stalking him even, but this boy, who quite politely and kindly expressed his feelings to me, was the worst thing. Naruto didn't pick on me or throw rocks at me like most little boys with crushes did. It didn't matter. Naruto was the loser. I didn't like him, just like everyone else. And just like everyone else I liked Sasuke-kun. Nothing was personal.
In honesty, I probably hated Naruto before I was in love with Sasuke-kun. My attraction to Sasuke-kun as a child was based purely on what I could see on the outside, and what I heard from other people. I never talked to him before joining Team Seven. Not really anyway. I might have shouted a hello or a compliment, but it was never a conversation. He had never said anything back to me. It wasn't real love. I'm not sure when it turned real. I couldn't find that moment in my head when it clicked, and I realized that I hadn't been in love with Sasuke-kun before at all. Maybe because such moments happened a multitude of times, each one, I would realize that I loved him so much deeper or was capable of than before, me falling even further and further into a hopeless bog of no returning from.
Naruto on the other hand, I can remember the moment of hatred quite clearly.
It was when he climbed up onto Sasuke-kun's desk, for no particular logical reason, glaring down into Sasuke-kun's perfect, unamused face, and fell, stealing Sasuke-kun's first kiss.
The kiss that was supposed to be mine.
It didn't matter if it was an accident. I beat the shit out of Naruto regardless, abusing my training at the academy. I knew how to throw a punch.
I was a terrible kid. I treated Naruto horribly for almost the entirety of knowing him during our childhood. Most of the time, I'm humble enough to feel guilt over this, but not over the moment Naruto stole Sasuke-kun's kiss. I should have known then, just what Naruto would put me through. Naruto took things. He took your patience. He took your time. But most of all, he took hearts. He probably had a whole collection, stuffed somewhere in some basement, like a hoarder who wouldn't let go. Naruto never let go of your heart. And I mean never. He deserved my hatred. He deserved everything.
I didn't realize when Naruto took the first, and of course most important, thing from me. I would not learn of it until many years later, and it only took so long because I was stupid. Like I said before, I lived in a fantasy world as a child, and was blind.
I was blind to see that Sasuke-kun was broken when he joined Team Seven with me. Thinking back on it now, I really can't believe how stupid I was. He wasn't broken when I announced Sasuke-kun as my one and only. No, I briefly remembered a whole Sasuke-kun, clinging to his older brother's hand, radiating nothing but cute, lovely perfection. But how was it that I was not able to see the complete change of Sasuke-kun's soul shattering? I of course knew about the massacre. Everyone knew of it. I didn't know all the details, but the rumors were everywhere. Yet that didn't really change my way of seeing Sasuke-kun as nothing but my prince. Maybe it did give him just a tad of darkness, a touch of mystery that fueled my naïve fantasy. I don't remember very well. Just that I must have been a moron. I had been pursuing Sasuke-kun so hard at the academy that I never noticed when Naruto had taken Sasuke-kun's first smile after Sasuke-kun had no more smile's left. He took the first stare, the first look of acknowledgement, after the death of Sasuke-kun's parents. I didn't know when this all happened, but the even stupid me was able to see signs of ... well, of something, by the time we were all twelve.
My first real conversation with Sasuke-kun, I must have been saying mean things about Naruto. What it was wasn't important. I was always saying mean things about Naruto. Everybody did. I was certainly not expecting Sasuke-kun to get angry and defend the idiot. Mostly, because Sasuke-kun had never defended anyone, much less Naruto. He stated that Naruto didn't have parents, that he didn't have anyone or anything. As if that meant he deserved the stuff he took, like my kiss from Sasuke-kun. I listened to Sasuke-kun anyway because anything he said was like a truth from a god. I had begun caring for Naruto only because Sasuke-kun had made me. That was why I had started. Maybe I would have never cared about any of this if it wasn't for Sasuke-kun. I wouldn't have done anything with my life. I would still be locked in my room at my parents' house, mourning my gigantic forehead.
Following Sasuke-kun's words, I looked at Naruto in a new light, but I was still stupid. I didn't see the other things, the other signs, that Naruto was stealing things.
As young children, we didn't like Naruto. The adults pretty much hated him; us kids took advantage of his status to make fun. We didn't stop picking on him because he allowed us to. He allowed us to laugh and have as much fun as we pleased, and because of that, even though no one would admit to liking Naruto, we sort of all gravitated towards him. Once we graduated from the academy, we were less likely to deny our liking for the fool, though we weren't completely mature enough to stop our bantering. As we went on missions together, people who had never known Naruto as 'The Loser' admired him. Maybe not right off the bat, as Naruto was never good with tact when it came to some things, but admiration, nonetheless. He made friendships like he stole hearts. Strangers, acquaintances, people that had known of Naruto all his life, they all fell in love with him. Sasuke-kun's heart was the first to be stolen. No one knew it when it happened. Not even Sasuke-kun. It certainly didn't seem like it at first, as Sasuke-kun's and Naruto's personalities clashed so much, but no one would have ever suspected what was to happen.
If existence could be seen as an art form, Sasuke-kun was an artist. As much as Naruto had always been unbridled passion and power, Sasuke-kun was all about control. Every movement, every breath, every look was deliberate. His eyes were always focused, his face always concentrating. He moved with grace and beauty, dark hair spilling around his white face in such poetry. Sasuke-kun rarely made mistakes, for he was constantly aware of how he appeared to everyone around him. Anything sad or broken wouldn't be seen by anyone, especially by the likes of me, unless he wanted it to, which he did not. He didn't like anyone. He openly admitted to it. He didn't care about any of the girls that fancied over him. I was only tolerated because it was required as part of Team Seven. Every man was either a nuisance beneath him or a challenger that he had to beat. He was rude. He was mean. He was cold. Yet, I still loved him anyway, with an explanation that I didn't have, except maybe that for some reason, the entire tragic picture of him was just too beautiful to me. Sasuke-kun brooded a lot. Because what was art without a touch of sadness? What was art without just a hint of mystery? He could always be found with plenty of space between him and anyone, sitting, or resting against the wall, his face falling into a state of deep, calculating thought. He was always thinking. Because of this he rarely talked, and when he did, his deep voice was hard, stating things as facts, because what he said must be nothing but. He was too smart. He was thinking too much. Perhaps he had to, to make up for Naruto's lack of thinking. And my own, for whatever thought I had in my head was always revolving around Sasuke-kun and wasn't anything relevant. Our team was a mess. It seemed like such a recipe for failure.
There was constant fighting between Sasuke-kun and Naruto. You didn't antagonize the Uchiha and get away with it, but Naruto was relentless, and Sasuke-kun would not back down. I watched them fall apart, unable to do anything about it. There were times when I thought I would witness the two of them destroy each other. Their hatred for each other, the rivalry, the jealousy, it was so intense and hard to understand.
I don't think Kakashi-sensei knew what to do about it either. He seemed to see the combination to be just as unhealthy as it truly was. He favored Sasuke-kun. At the time I thought it was because of Sasuke-kun's obvious skill and prodigy level of ninjutsu. I know now it was because Kakashi-sensei was worried about him. He could sense something wasn't right in his head. Naruto, Kakashi-sensei seemed to ignore all together. Feasibly it could have been because Naruto was too much for him to handle. Or maybe Kakashi-sensei thought Naruto needed to be ignored. As for me, Kakashi-sensei was at a loss of what to do with me as well. I think he felt somewhat uncomfortable around me honestly. He didn't know how to train a female ninja, and sometimes even became nervous around me whenever I informed him, I needed feminine supplies while we were out on missions. The only thing Kakashi-sensei seemed to be able to bring himself to do for me was to put a smile on his hidden face and lie to me calmly that everything was going to be alright, when it wasn't. I believed him anyway. Kakashi-sensei was a very good liar. Naruto was terrible. He would try to lie every once in a while, but it was always followed by a nervous laugh. Because of this when Naruto spoke, it was almost always the truth. Sasuke-kun didn't really lie, though it was mostly because he didn't talk, so he didn't tell the truth either.
We were a dysfunctional team, but I can't deny that we didn't have those golden moments. Well not really me. I didn't know my place in the world, but Sasuke-kun and Naruto, when they weren't fighting each other, they could work miracles. It was really amazing how well they worked together when they tried, like they knew what the other was thinking. They moved as one person, without much communication at all, and I found myself lonely and jealous watching them, like I wasn't part of it. I wasn't part of this team. Kakashi-sensei tried to console me that I was important. Oftentimes, the reason why Sasuke-kun and Naruto had suddenly put aside their differences to fight like magic together was because they were protecting me. Kakashi-sensei tried to tell me I was the glue that held everyone together. It was a lie. Kakashi-sensei's always been a liar.
It wasn't because the two boys were in love with me. I wasn't that important. Hell, I was hardly any help in missions at all. Sure, I knew Naruto had a soft spot for me, and Sasuke-kun had seemed to get over his coldness and trust me over any other girl in the village, but I wasn't their most precious person. No, they were each other's.
I knew Sasuke-kun didn't reciprocate my feelings for him. He had no room for them, because he was too focused on his goal of revenge over his family's massacre. It still didn't matter to me. Revenge was only the first part of his goal after all. The second part was to restore his clan, and for that he was going to need a woman. If he focused so hard on the first part of his goal, I knew he would put just as much effort into the second part. I really thought I was going to have a chance. Sasuke-kun's attitude towards me was slowly changing. He still called me annoying most of the time, but he always kept one eye on me, always anticipating when he had to jump in and save me. I was hopelessly in the way all the time, and sometimes it didn't sit well with me that Sasuke-kun was smart enough to realize that I needed to be saved when I did. Yet he was always so gentle and tender when he picked me up to be swept out of harm's way. His other eye was of course on Naruto. He'd save Naruto too, though less often, and when he did, he had no qualms on how he did it, kicking him harshly or shoving him away. I liked to tell myself he was gentler with me because he favored me over Naruto, but I was just more delicate. Even I had to admit there was something extremely satisfying about hitting Naruto. Perhaps both Sasuke-kun and I were addicted to it.
Sasuke-kun once threw himself in front of an attack to save Naruto. To save a precious person, his body had moved on its own, without his control. I had thought Sasuke-kun had died. It was the first time that my heart broke, but it was certainly not the last. I mean really broke. It wasn't like the many rejections Sasuke-kun would caustically throw at me when I asked him out or being labeled as just as much of a loser as Naruto by him. This was true pain. Real pain when you're not fatally injured at all but hurts so much more. It was starting to happen; I was falling in deeper. Sasuke-kun being sacrificial was even more endearing. My attachment to him grew once I knew he would risk his life, his goal of revenge, to save someone, so selflessly. I loved him even more. Things become more precious when you almost lose them.
Sasuke-kun turned out to be alright, the attack not being fatal. I was so happy when I saw him open his eyes to look at me, with what could be called affection, for the first time, that I didn't notice the facts. I didn't think about how Sasuke-kun was willing to die for Naruto. Sasuke-kun was willing to leave me for Naruto.
Of course, Sasuke-kun had been willing to leave me for a lot of things. One of those things included power to kill his brother, Itachi, the murderer of his clan. No one told me about this. I didn't know who Sasuke-kun was so desperate to kill. I had to look it up on my own. I had to do research. Of course, Naruto knew before I did. He had somehow known more about Sasuke-kun than I, despite all of my persistence to be close to the lonely avenger. Naruto had stolen that from me too. Damn that little thief.
Sasuke-kun left me, off to Orochimaru and danger and darkness and revenge, without me. The situation was truly hopeless. There was nothing anyone could do about it. Sasuke-kun chose to leave us and seeing him again was close to zero. If I did see him again, he wouldn't be the same. He wasn't my prince. He wasn't going to come save me. We weren't going to live "happily ever after". My dream for the last six to seven years was gone forever. What was the point of existing?
It helped, in a selfish disgusting way, though it shouldn't be surprising because I've always been selfish, that he left Naruto too. Naruto who took things. Naruto who had snatched up the shards of Sasuke-kun's shattered heart and stashed them deep into his pockets. I don't know who was more hopeless and heartbroken with Sasuke-kun's deflection, me or Naruto.
"Don't worry! I'll bring him back! Promise of a lifetime!" Naruto had grinned so easily at me, that huge smile that split his face right in half, his thumb jutted up into the air. Princesses wait for heroes to come and fix their problems for them. Naruto threw his word at me, his promise, his ninja way, and I believed him. I believed that he could fix this. He took my anxiousness, my uneasiness, my tears. I felt all that leave me in a slow sigh, and Naruto took it from me, to stash it wherever he kept all his stolen things.
Of course, Naruto failed the first time trying to get Sasuke-kun back. He failed the second time too. And the third, and countless other times. We came to dead end after dead end, but the two of us, him, and I, we didn't give up. Naruto and I were assigned other missions. As I started my medical training, I watched Naruto grow more and more powerful, doing amazing things. The more things he did manage to accomplish, the more hope I had that he would someday too, bring back Sasuke-kun. He had stolen my hope, my faith, my admiration, my loyalty. See what I mean about Naruto taking things? It made me hate him.
This was by far not the only thing I hated about Naruto. Oh no, there were many things. He was disgusting, he never kept his apartment tidy. He had horrible eating habits, and often because of this, had misplaced bodily functions. He was slow, and many things that were important flew over his head if they led to be too complicated. He complained constantly. He was stubborn, and once an idea got into his head, no reasoning could have ever changed his mind. Not that you had time to even try to argue with him as he was rash and would dive straight in. We lost the element of surprise too many times to count. He had a knack of always getting into trouble. He had a perverted habit and said things that just pissed me off in general.
He knew very well that I was in love with Sasuke-kun, that I had always been in love with Sasuke-kun, but that didn't stop him from hitting on me. He asked me out on dates more times than I can remember. He had a stupid smile that was infectious. He had startling blue eyes that held every emotion he ever felt. His hair was the color of a sunny day.
As he got older, he grew out of his short stature. Well-toned muscles glided under tanned skin when he moved like an unstoppable force of nature to whatever task that was set at hand. Girls would become smitten with his charm, him successfully fulfilling his promises to them, saving the day, and following his heart when a mission just didn't seem to set well with him. Naruto was a hero.
I still hated him. You can hate heroes. It's not impossible.
Naruto eventually left me too, you know. For the same reason Sasuke-kun did. While Sasuke-kun was away in parts unknown, seeking power with Orochimaru, Naruto soon left with Master Jiraiya to also train. Don't get me wrong. I snagged myself a Sannin to train with just as well, but I didn't have to go anywhere for it. Tsunade-sama and I were able to complete it all at home. I never could understand why Sasuke-kun and Naruto couldn't just do the same.
I missed both of them of course. I lamented over missing Naruto's obnoxious interruptions throughout the day, and I longed for Sasuke-kun at night. My dreams were filled with Sasuke-kun returning, sneaking into my bedroom, his hands on my body-and then I would wake up. That, or Naruto would suddenly be in my dream, ruining the moment, but I wasn't even too upset when that happened. Dreaming about the two of them was better than being awake without them. Yet, it did bother me slightly when my brain would get Sasuke-kun and Naruto mixed up. It seemed like such an obvious mistake, as the two were so different, but I told myself it was normal. I had never spent too much time with Sasuke-kun without Naruto. The brain often gets confused in dreams.
Naruto seemed to be gone forever. Life in the village was too quiet, its people, like blood, pumped and moved so slowly through the heart, that life seemed barely alive at all. I wasn't the only one that missed Naruto's presence. Everyone did. They didn't really have a right to miss him though, not after the way they had treated Naruto in the past. Perhaps Hinata had a right to, but she would have been the only exception. (Her strange crush had her labeled her as weird when we were kids.)
And I because I felt like such a right was obligated to me. Naruto was part of my team. I had already lost Sasuke-kun. Naruto was more my hero than anyone else's because he had given me his word. Not that he hadn't given words to others, but my promise hadn't been fulfilled yet. Naruto still owed me, and until then, he would be mine. It wasn't because I wanted Naruto all to myself. It wasn't because I was in love with him. No, because I was in love with Sasuke-kun. Such facts were obvious when the both of them were around, but with Sasuke-kun gone, I couldn't see before me how Sasuke-kun was better than Naruto. And when Naruto was gone, I could not see how Naruto was worse.
Two and a half years went by before I saw Naruto again. Puberty started somewhere during that time span. He was no full-grown man, for sure, but it was enough time for his voice to become deeper, his height to grow taller than I, and his movements more graceful. He still had that insanely yellow hair. His eyes still showed with every emotion he ever felt, and his smile was still attractive. I had grown just enough to have those hormones, to have me blushing over him like the young girl I was. If he was all grown up now, if I felt these things after two and a half years, perhaps I would think of Naruto differently. He used to like me after all. He still liked me. Could he have liked me more now that I had grown?
"Are you kidding? Not really! You haven't changed at all!"
And if hearing him say things like that wasn't infuriating enough, Naruto had to discuss with Konohamaru who's sexy jutsu was better. Apparently, it was something they did often. You know, the young females they created to be the epitome of the perfect woman. Girls who weren't me. I was so angry. I was so furious with him in that one moment. I wanted to rip his clothes off. I wanted to see how the muscles in his torso had changed. I wanted to see what was beneath the rim of his pants.
But of course, I didn't do that. I wasn't that insane. I did what I always did instead, beat him into a bloody pulp. It was the closest thing I could do to what I really wanted to physically do to him. Whenever I had that feeling, to suddenly want to touch his body, I would just hit him. This is all because I hated him. He made me this way.
Naruto always annoyed me. Even more now that he was older. I hadn't thought it possible since the young boy was always getting on my nerves all the time with how immature he'd been. But now, more mature, it was worse. It wasn't just his body, though, I did find it annoying the way other women would look at him, but he was always getting himself in danger, needlessly hurting himself. He had the Nine-Tails in him. He was a fast healer and sometimes seemed indestructible, but I still hated seeing him get hurt. I hated him hurt because that meant I had to heal him and healing him meant putting my hands on different parts of him. Sometimes I thought he did it on purpose, just an excuse for me to touch him, like some pervy asshole who had no concern for his own wellbeing.
Naruto was always full of himself, even when he had nothing to back it up with but promises that he would be the next Hokage. Now that he had gotten stronger, it was unbearable. At first, I was impressed. Naruto always impressed me. Of course, because I was pathetic, and even though I had my few moments to shine and show off my unbelievable chakra control, the moment ended, and Naruto was again more incredible than I. Without Sasuke-kun around, there was no one more so.
I will admit that all this anger, this jealousy and my short temper was most likely sexual frustration. At first, I would kid myself that I was just at that age, my body was changing, and I was craving to test out my sexuality. Naruto was just an eligible young male that I was constantly around. These sudden feelings for him had nothing to do with me being attracted to him specifically.
But I knew in the back of my head that I was making excuses. I was wrong. Why should I be so dazzled by Naruto's determination, his quick wit, his unorthodox methods? None of that was part of physical attraction. I was falling for Naruto's heart.
I cried over Sasuke-kun countlessly. I could have made an ocean with so many tears. I cried because he had left. But Naruto, Naruto gave me so many other reasons to cry. I cried over that he was the Nine-Tails container, that the Akatsuki were after him. I cried when he couldn't control the demon inside of him and his own body worked against him. I cried whenever he cried, which was quite often for a boy. I tried to keep my tears in moderation. A ninja wasn't supposed to show emotion, and I knew I was very bad at following that rule. Naruto, he didn't even care about the rule at all. He openly cried in front of anyone for anyone. And of course, we'd both cry over Sasuke-kun.
I don't know why I was so emotional all the time. Perhaps I was just young. I couldn't blame it on having a tragic past. Others had always had it worse than me, and no one worse than Naruto. Why was it that I would get so scared whenever Naruto was hurt, even though I knew he would be fine? He was always fine. His healing abilities were uncanny. But I didn't want to rely on that. It was just like me to think that Naruto was fine like all the other times he had been, only to find out this time, he was not.
"I won't ever die on you, Sakura-chan," he told me so seriously after a Nine-Tails episode that I was healing him over. "I'm not going anywhere yet," he would grin. "I have too much to do. I have to bring Sasuke back, become Hokage and even after that, I won't ever leave you behind. I'll make sure you're never alone." And that sent me sobbing, Naruto reading me so well. I had always feared being left behind.
I knew I would most likely have fallen in love with Naruto. I would have wanted to, eventually, go out with him, start a relationship, maybe even get married.
But I wasn't in love with him. I was still in love with Sasuke-kun. I had forgotten how much until I saw that cold Uchiha again.
If I thought the years had been kind to Naruto, I had no idea what they would have done to someone who was already so beautiful as Sasuke-kun was. When I first saw him, I had no control over my body. I could say no words, even though there was so much I wanted to tell him, wanted to ask him. All I could do was whimper out his name as I was totally lost in the sight of him.
He stood against the sun, a perfect silhouette, like a grand opening for the bane of my existence to reenter my life, a bane that I would gladly welcome back. I couldn't have forgotten his face with how often I stared at my picture of him, but my eyes had focused on features that were less prominent now, and age had made parts of his face that I had never really noticed before standout. I had never realized that I was in love with the way that Sasuke-kun's cheeks sat on his face, or the curve of his chin and the angle of his jaw. I loved the way his neck sloped into the broad shoulders that Sasuke-kun used to not have. I wanted to press my lips to the Adam's apple that had developed upon his throat. His hair was a tad longer than it was in my picture. It danced in the wind as this man stared down at me. My eyes drifted downward over what was exposed of his chest. The fabric opened, each plain and muscle developed faultlessly. His lethal body seemed relaxed but poised for some devastating attack that I was sure he could perform in the blink of an eye. He was oh so much taller than before.
And of course, there were things about him that were the same, that I instantly recognized and had always loved. The way his eyes could bore into souls, dark, thoughtful, menacing, the way he would have had always stared at an enemy. His stance was the same, cool, but collected. The way he said both of Naruto's and my name, hard, like a demand. This was Uchiha Sasuke. But even the similarities were still different. They were colder, and even harsher than before.
I was the first one to see him. I saw him before Naruto did, though Naruto wasn't too far behind me as he rushed into the open air. My name was the first word Sasuke-kun uttered, but once Naruto was in our presence, Naruto's name was soon next, and all of Sasuke-kun's attention was stolen by Naruto. They even went so far as to have a conversation with each other. About, I had no idea, even though I was there, just that it seemed like Sasuke-kun wanted to kill Naruto. But Sasuke-kun had always acted like he wanted to kill Naruto. Hell, I wanted to kill Naruto, for he was just standing there, in the center of Sasuke-kun's attention.
And then Sasuke-kun was gone. Like he always would be. He was always gone.