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Sasuke had always known he would die drowning.

He wouldn’t have let himself die before he killed Itachi and maybe he hadn’t planned on living for much longer after, but there was never a doubt in his mind that he would die cold with liquid in his lungs. It seemed fitting, after all, that for all he had lived around fire and lightning he would die by water.

He wasn’t completely wrong.

Sasuke was a boy when Shisui died. They said he drowned in the Naka River, just past the family temple, and that he had jumped off the cliff and into the river. His body broke on impact and not long after he drowned.

Of course Sasuke heard the other rumors too. He was seven, not dumb. Besides - he was training to be a shinobi of the Leaf and someone strong enough to be acknowledged by his brother. It was only natural he would use all of his stealth and observation skills to listen in on the things the rest of his clan would say about his brother.

Murderer, they whispered. Kin-slayer. He brought pride to our clan, but look where he is now. How could he have killed his own cousin? Poor Fugaku, how can he entrust the clan to him now? I knew he would snap one day. And at such a horrible time too...

Sasuke knew his brother would never kill Shisui. Never, not ever. Because if Sasuke felt the heavy knot that had made its home next to his heart, Itachi felt it a hundred times more and he was far too kind to kill someone he loved even if he was ordered to.

He also knew no one would listen to that.

Funny how they all seemed to shut up around Fugaku though. 

The day before Sasuke entered his personal hell, he woke up at dawn and crept out of the house as quietly as he could. He went through the streets of the clan district, past the last row of houses, over the grassy hill, past the family temple, until at last he reached the edge of the cliff overlooking the Naka. He could see the edge of the rising sun peeking up over the horizon, tingeing the sky pink as the last of night was pushed away. At the border of night and day it was beautiful, and Sasuke wondered what his cousin saw right before he jumped. Did he look at the sky and think how beautiful it was too? Did he see the stars cast across the darkness of night and wonder at how incredible it looked? Or did he reach up to try and touch one of the clouds he had always said he wanted to touch, you know Sasuke, just to see what it feels like, right as he pitched over into the river below? Sasuke would never know. He wished Shisui saw something pretty in his last moments. Even if nii-san was better than him, Sasuke still liked him. He didn’t deserve to die such a lonely death like that. 

Sasuke sat on the ledge, feet dangling and completely unconcerned with the height. He knew it wasn’t safe, but... it helped him feel closer to Shisui, made him feel like Shisui was only gone on a super secret super important double-S rank mission and not dead. He looked up, watching the sky change from the pretty blue of predawn to purple to pink, fluffy clouds drifting lazily overhead. He reached up, like he imagined Shisui would have, straining to touch the unobtainable. 

He didn't notice how far he was leaning forward.

He barely had time to realize he was falling before his stomach shot into his throat and all he could register was the roar of the approaching river and the foaming water -

And he stopped. A second before being engulfed by the rushing water and so close he could feel the spray against his cheeks, he was saved by a chakra-charged wire wrapped around his middle. 

Sasuke let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and it was only then he felt the rush of adrenaline course through him. How ironic that he feels the most alive he's ever been moments away from death. He's safe? Is he not gonna fall?

His question is answered when he feels pressure on the wire at his waist and he's hauled up away from the river. When he reaches the top, he feels arms wind around him from the back, pulling him close. He finds himself in a familiar embrace, one that smells faintly of sweat and ash. Nii-san. 

Safe, warm, and head tucked under the chin of his older brother, Sasuke turned around and buried his face into Itachi's chest, breathing in his smell. He tried to hold back the tears born half of fear and relief, because I'm a shinobi and shinobi don't show emotions! but Itachi's hands stroking his back and smoothing his hair pushed him over the edge.

Sasuke sobbed into his brother's shirt, clinging tightly to the fabric, even as Itachi carried him away from the edge and sat them both on the dew-wet grass. "Nii-san," he cried. "Nii-san, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you came, I'm sorry. Please don't leave me too."

Itachi's arms only tightened around Sasuke as he continued his soothing ministrations, rocking them slightly and making soft shushing noises. "I'm sorry, Otouto," Itachi whispered. Sasuke didn't know what his brother was talking about and he didn't really care, not when his brother made him feel so safe. Itachi would always protect him and love him and Sasuke knew that - there would never be anything to actually apologize for. "I'm so, so sorry, Otouto. I'll always protect you, and I love you. You're ok." Itachi murmured his words into Sasuke's hair, soft voice getting rough with his rare unshed tears.

And if Sasuke felt water drip to the crown of his head, well. That was no one's business but their own. 

He was fighting off ten white Zetsu, the Sun at his back and fighting just as many himself. They fought together just like they were meant to, Naruto with the sun on his palm and Sasuke with the moon. He fit where none of Sasuke's other battle partners ever had and he missed it - it was more a deadly dance of grace and blades and whirling jutsu than a fight, and Sasuke's blood sang with the sheer rightness of it. 

Naruto laughed, pure and bright, and glanced back at Sasuke. "Want to make a bet, teme? I'll take down-" Naruto made a considering noise - "That patch over there, and you do that part, and whoever's got more is the winner and has to buy the other ramen!" Sasuke snorted. "That only benefits you, usuratonkachi. Give me something I want." 

Naruto spun around to face Sasuke in time for his breath to be taken away by a stunning sword maneuver that made the blade flash in the dim light of the battlefield, looking for all the world a warrior born of shadows and night. 

Nevertheless, Naruto was appropriately offended at Sasuke's lack of respect for the divinity of ramen. "Teme! How dare you disrespect ramen! It's the best thing in the entire world! Rude!" 

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Come up with a better reward and I'll take the bet, dead-last. It looks like I'm winning anyway," he said, satisfaction tingeing his voice. 

Naruto, now preoccupied by another set of white Zetsu, turned away from Sasuke and threw a wind jutsu in their general direction.

It destroyed all of them. 

"Look who's winning now, bastard! I can already taste the ramen, and it's salty broth, and the tasty pork, and everything else ramen-oji-san and Ayame-nee put in it!" Naruto said triumphantly.

Sasuke glared in his direction, Mangekyo blazing, but with no real heat behind it. He was enjoying this easy playful banter, had missed it just as much as he had missed Naruto's presence in the dark years he had spent with Orochimaru. It was right, it was perfect, and it filled him with a feeling almost like satisfied glee. 

The Allied Shinobi Forces were winning, Naruto was by his side, and zetsu clones were falling under the combined forces of Sasuke and Naruto, how had they ever existed apart - like wheat under a scythe.

It had been a week. 

One week since Itachi killed his mother and father and everyone else in the clan to test his powers and leaving a seven-year-old Sasuke with a promise to live in hatred and no one to come home to in a house full of ghosts.

One week since every girl in the Academy decided Sasuke was the only one worth their attention and bothered him even more than they already did, because apparently having your entire family killed made you mysterious and cool. (It didn't. It just meant you had PTSD and an overwhelming amount of grief). 

One week where the village leaders had told him he would be living by himself in the Uchiha district and given a portion of Konoha's orphan fund. He accepted, because he needed somewhere to stay and didn't want to abandon the place he once called home. He had money, but unless he graduated early he would be draining the Uchiha coffers for five years and he needed a stable income if he didn't want to leave the clan broke when he revived it someday. It chafed his pride but he took the village's money. 

The Hokage was less forthright about the other things he would be giving Sasuke. An ANBU detail, for example. And a cozy spot on the watch list. 

Didn't mean Sasuke didn't know about those things anyway. Who did they think he was, a child? He had lost any semblance of innocence he had when he saw corpses bleeding out in the streets of his home and his brother stand over the still-warm bodies of their parents, blade in hand and slick with blood. His brother had made him an adult the second he showed him what he had done to every single one of his clansmen with those gods-damned eyes. Aunt Kiyomi. The baker down the street with her newborn. Izumi, the girl Sasuke was beginning to suspect Itachi liked. 

Their parents. 

A week.

One horrible, blank week.

It hurt so, so bad to know that he had never really known his brother at all. Everything Itachi said, everything he did, all the missions he went on, every time Itachi poked his forehead and said forgive me, Sasuke, maybe later - how much of that had he meant? How long was he planning on killing all of their family? That day, on the river - he said he was sorry, and that he would never leave. Sasuke thought Itachi loved him and the rest of the clan too much to hurt anyone.

Guess he was wrong.

He left Sasuke behind to deal with everything. He was technically clan head, now, so it was his responsibility to tie up all the loose ends of the Police Force, deal with the prisoners being kept on the far side of the district, scrub the blood from everywhere, fill out the clan records...

He was seven, and the clan head. It was so much. Help was necessary, but the Hokage had already given ANBU to clear the bodies and any more interference on the part of the government would be seen as pandering. The Uchiha were still technically a clan, despite Sasuke being the only member left in the village, and special treatment would set a dangerous precedent. Sasuke was completely on his own.

He walked around the village until sundown. It wasn't like he had anyone waiting for him. People generally avoided him to whisper things behind their hands as they pointed to their companions. 

Sasuke didn't listen. 

He walked by the docks at the lake similar to the one his father had taught him the Fireball jutsu and he felt his heart twinge painfully. Sasuke would never get his attention or love, now. 

He expected the docks to be empty. No one really came there, after all. They were called Fire Country for a reason. But sitting on the edge, feet skimming the water, was a blond boy. It was the loud one from his Academy class, the one always pulling pranks. What was his name again? Menma, or Ramen, or... Naruto? His name was Naruto. Sasuke thinks he's an orphan too. He had just as many whispers from the villagers about him as Sasuke did, but they were much more unfavorable. Their words were always full of poison and spat out like the thought of him left a bad taste in their mouths. Sasuke didn't understand why; every time he had seen him, he was bright and happy and yeah, maybe he was a troublemaker, but that didn't warrant the villagers spitting at him and calling him a monster.

Naruto's hair caught the light as he turned, noticing Sasuke. He offered a small smile, and it was the first one Sasuke could remember seeing since the massacre that wasn't tinged with pity or condescension. It was beautiful in its simplicity, and it was a smile he would come to love, even if he would never admit it to himself.

The expression on the boy's face quickly soured as he realized Sasuke wasn't going to smile back and turned around with a huff.

Sasuke kept walking though, trudging his feet on the dirt street. And if he hid a quiet smile to himself too, well. That wasn't anybody's business but his own. 

 Sasuke whirled, slashed, striked, blade a ribbon of silver in the moonlight. He threw jutsu after jutsu after jutsu into the horde of zetsu clones, black fire of Amaterasu mixing with the vibrant reds of his fire techniques and the phrenetic white light and chirping birds sound of chidori. 

Naruto was still at his side, protecting his back just as Sasuke was doing for him. He burned with the light of a thousand suns, wreathed in the Nine-Tail's chakra made more potent by chakra given to him by the Rikudou-Sennin and the nature chakra he had managed to gather. He was fast, much faster than Sasuke had remembered him being even if the last time they met was a week ago. Naruto had created thousands of clones of his own to combat the veritable army of zetsu clones that was whaling on the Allied Shinobi Forces, and each one shone like a beacon in the darkness. He just ducked and punched and danced around each zetsu, and it was a glorious sight to behold. Of course, the original had stayed with Sasuke, seeming unwilling to leave him after the years they had spent apart, and Sasuke wasn't going to argue. 

The time for idle chatter had long since passed, and now Sasuke and Naruto fought and wove around each other wordlessly, each completely focused on their task of killing as many clones as possible while protecting the other. It wasn't hard, per se, but it was becoming more an more of a challenge to fight off wave upon wave of clones when their chakra was waning. Both of their reserves were huge, as a result of years of training, but they had been fighting for hours. Even Naruto with his nearly-infinite chakra reserves was panting softly with exertion. By now they must have killed at least hundreds of zetsu each, but neither were keeping track anymore. They just wanted it to be over and rest like they so desperately needed. It had been days since either of them had last slept. Sasuke was exhausted, and he could feel Naruto was too through their bond, but every one of Sasuke's nerves felt like it was tipped in the same electricity that wreathed his katana. He was so close, so close, to Naruto. There were little brushes of his billowing sleeve against his wrist or his back as Naruto ducked and wove around him, and each fluttering touch felt like taking in a breath of fresh air. 

As they fought together, Naruto clutching his father's three-pronged Hiraishin kunai in his mouth, he winked at Sasuke from under his arm and shot off to slice down another clone. 

Well. That's concerning. He definitely didn't think his heart was supposed to skip a beat like that, and especially not in the middle of a battle. Maybe he could have a medic-nin check him out later. 

They were all of twelve years old and thought they could become the most powerful shinobi in all the five nations. Of course, that meant that lowly D-ranks - glorified chores - were below them.

When Naruto had tried to tell their sensei this in that loud, in your face way of his, Kakashi merely smiled his infuriating eye smile and ruffled the boy's hair. "Maa, Naruto, you have to cook the ramen before you can eat it, right?" he said. He stepped away and turned to address the whole team, but predictably Naruto started shouting again. "That doesn't even make sense, Kakashi-sensei! Stop being all weird and cryptic!" Naruto was jumping in his face, trying to get his attention, but Kakashi was staunchly ignoring him. "Now, my cute little students, I've gotten you a mission!" He held up a scroll with his insufferable eye smile still in place, brandishing what was most likely another D-rank.

Sasuke was right. It was another D-rank. He would never admit it out loud, but he agreed with Naruto. There was no way he was going to be able to kill That Man if all he kept doing was stupid D-ranks. 

" Today you will be catching the daimyo's wife's cat. It's run away again and the daimyo's wife misses her cat very much, so don't let her down!" Kakashi said. His enthusiasm would've been nice if it weren't for that slightly terrifying vindictive gleam in his eye. "Here's the gear you'll be needing for the mission. We leave right now!” 

And so their team set out across the village. They came up with a plan to capture the cat, and slunk around trees like the shinobi they were as they tracked it through one of the forests surrounding the village. If Sasuke didn't know any better, he would say the cat knew it was being followed and was leading them on. Damn cat. 

It had led them to a waterfall somewhere Sasuke was fairly sure hadn't existed before. It was probably a training accident with a water jutsu that hadn't been fixed yet. At the risk of sounding like his Nara classmate, how troublesome. If the cat decided to go anywhere near the edge (Sasuke swore it gave him a smug and mocking look once. So definitely something it would do), no one except Kakashi would be able to help and he was off hiding in a tree somewhere, so he would be useless in that situation. None of the rest of the team could walk on water yet, as much as it bothered him.

The cat walked near the edge. 

In the split second before the cat fell the ten or so feet off the waterfall, Sasuke relished the genuine surprise that managed to register on the cat's face. What an idiot.

Of course, Sasuke forgot to take one other thing into account, and that was the fact that Naruto was also an idiot. 

He raced out from behind the tree he was concealing himself with to fling himself at the cat, hoping to catch it before it fell. For a moment he hung suspended in the air, his orange jumpsuit stark against the blue sky and water. And in that moment, Sasuke felt all the air whoosh out of his lungs. It was just like five years ago, on that morning at the edge of the river, and all he could see was foaming water and sharp rocks and white rapids-

He darted forward before he knew what he was doing, saving Naruto the same way his brother had that day. Sasuke latched onto a scraggly tree on the bank with one hand and threw out ninja wire with his other, channeling chakra to direct it to catch the other boy. The wire wrapped around Naruto's waist, jerking him and putting strain on Sasuke's arms, but he was saved. Naruto is safe; he won't fall, not like Sasuke almost did on that one morning. 

"Idiot," Sasuke hissed, glaring down at Naruto. The dobe had his arms around the limp, terrified cat and was looking balefully up at Sasuke. "At least I care about the mission, teme! And I'm not heartless like you! Look at how terrified the poor cat is! Now are you gonna pull me up or not? The water is cold," Naruto said, pouting. 

Sasuke heaved him up, making sure he got as wet as possible. As soon as he was on the ground again, Naruto spat out the water in his mouth and glared at the other boy. "You bastard! You did that on purpose! You got me and the cat wet!" Naruto stood up and got in Sasuke's face, staring into his disgruntled expression, before Naruto grinned the biggest, most evil grin Sasuke had ever seen on the boy's face. If Sasuke was a lesser man, he might've taken a step back. As it was he only leaned back, a snarl on his face at whatever foolish thing Naruto was about to do. 

Naruto didn't disappoint.

He shook his head, flinging the water off his head like a dog and splattering the stupid cat still hanging traumatized in his arms even more. The majority of the water landed on Sasuke, who reeled back at the sudden onslaught but ended up with water on him anyway. Now that Sasuke was also wet, Naruto was cackling on the ground. "The look on your face, teme," he wheezed. "I have my sweet sweet revenge!" 

Sasuke just glared. "What are you, a dog? The extent of your sheer idiocy astounds me, dead-last," Sasuke snarled. Naruto launched himself off the ground, the cat (unfortunately) forgotten on the dirt, and grabbed Sasuke's collar. "Say that again, teme! I dare you!"

Perhaps it was lucky Kakashi decided to make himself known before the two boys could start fighting again. "Now, now, boys, let's not fight," he drawled. He held the cat under one arm and stood near Sakura, who was looking worriedly at them. "We still have to complete the mission, after all. Now Naruto, let go of Sasuke." 

Naruto did as he was told, although begrudgingly. Kakashi spoke up again. "We have the cat, so let's bring it back to Hokage Tower. Naruto, here you go," he said, dumping the cat into Naruto's arms. Naruto barely managed to get out a sound of surprise before the cat yowled and started clawing at every inch of exposed skin. Naruto, now covered in angry red scratches, threw the cat at Sasuke who tried his best not to touch it. Alas, his efforts were in vain as the cat latched on to Sasuke's (slightly wet) shirt, still making ungodly sounds. 

When they reached the tower, both boys were covered in scratches and Sakura was looking like she was torn between fretting over Sasuke and laughing at their misfortune. Kakashi looked smug and entirely all too pleased with the outcome considering two of his students were mauled by an irritable cat. It turns out the cat (whose name was Tora, not that they cared) was notorious among genin and that it was almost a rite of passage to have the extreme misfortune of dealing with the damiyo's wife's runaway cat. Even Kakashi had once gone after the cat, which called into question the cat's age and why it had run away so many times. Honestly, upon giving the cat back to the daimyo's wife, Sasuke couldn't say he blamed the cat for running away so often. That woman smothered the cat in affection.  

---

In the confines of the empty Uchiha district, lying in his bedroom and gazing up at the shadows the moonlight created on his ceiling, Sasuke allowed himself to replay the day's events. How Naruto had jumped over the edge of the waterfall like an idiot, and the stab of panic he felt when he thought for a second he might not be able to pull Naruto up.

He completely ignored the relief that trickled through him when Naruto was on the ground next to him or the fluttering he felt in his stomach when Naruto leaned in close and grabbed his collar, Sasuke able to see the flecks of violet in his otherwise bright blue eyes. 

Nope. He wouldn't think about that at all. 

The zetsu just kept coming, and coming, and coming, with no end in sight to the hordes of featureless white figures. Sasuke was beginning to think that something was making them as quickly as he or Naruto could cut them down. All around them the sounds of battles rang out, the moans of dying shinobi melding with the clangs of blades and the shouts of jutsu being called out as they were performed. Naruto and Sasuke were probably the only ones holding their own so well, even if they were both exhausted. Three days now, three days of straight fighting with only a couple hours each night for sleep and food. Sakura and the rest of the medic-nin were likely sequestered away from the front lines, where her extraordinary healing skills were needed more than her monstrous attacks as more shinobi surrendered to their fatigue and got hurt. Kakashi was distinguishable only by his chakra-charged sword, glowing white somewhere in the distance though Sasuke could tell even he was beginning to tire. When this was over, he would have to see Sakura again. It had been years since the two had interacted amicably and with the promise that he would return back home to Konoha with Naruto, he wanted to see her again without her trying to kill him. It wasn't like he could blame her, though. Sasuke was still technically a missing-nin and a terrorist when they last met. She was duty bound to kill him, as per Konoha's missing-nin policy. 

He was calling up Susanoo, the purple chakra already giving him a slight glow as his Mangekyo shone red, when it happened. At first he didn't feel anything, just surprise as he slowly looked down at the cluster of hard roots protruding from his chest. He didn't have to look to know a zetsu had taken advantage of his tiredness and snuck up behind him, running him through with his arm. 

And then the pain exploded through him.

It was agony. It felt like fire licked through his veins and acid was eating away at his flesh. He barely noticed when his knees hit the packed dirt, unable to think beyond the onslaught of pain and the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. As if in slow motion, he watched as Naruto turned towards him, shock and terror marring his features. He had felt it when Sasuke had been stabbed through their link and it was all he could do not to crumple to the ground right then and there. 

Naruto roared in inarticulate rage, in that moment more the Demon Fox than human. He rose into the air as the Kyuubi's avatar manifested around him and completely cleared all the remaining zetsu closing in on Sasuke with one swipe of his gigantic claws. And as soon as the huge glowing fox appeared, it vanished, Naruto crashing to his knees and scrambling to Sasuke's side. "Sasuke," he rasped. "Sasuke, please, I can-" Naruto's hands, still wreathed in golden chakra, shook as they hovered above Sasuke's bloodied body. "-The Sage, I can use his power, I'll heal you, please, Sasuke-" Naruto groaned, half in frustration and half out of fear. He snaked his chakra around the hole through Sasuke's chest, trying to coax the cells into healing, but it didn't take. There was something blocking it, something he couldn't fix. Naruto yanked off his jacket and stuffed it in the fist-sized hole through Sasuke's chest before heaving him into his arms. "C'mon, teme, you've been stabbed before, I've literally seen you walk around with your spine cut, this is nothing, so don't give up on me now, ok?" Naruto was almost sobbing as he ran through the zetsu and other shinobi as he tried to get to the medic tent as fast as he could. "You promised me you would come back, don't go back on your word, bastard, don't make me go back on mine. I swore I would get you back home, remember? I promised Sakura-chan too, what would she say if she saw you like this? I didn't chase you for the last three years to give you up again. I didn't let you tear a hole through my lung to let you leave me again, please, don't, you promised me," tears were openly streaming down Naruto's face now, even as Sakura and the medic tent came into view. 

"Dobe, stop," Sasuke wheezed. "Poison- not fast enough- it's ok," He coughed, blood bubbling past his lips and staining his teeth red. "Just-"

"No, Sasuke, please," Naruto sobbed, his eyes overflowing with pain. "Sakura-chan's right there, she can fix you-" But at the sight of a half-cracked open eye, he shut his mouth. "No," he begged, even as he slid to his knees. "Sasuke."

Sasuke huffed weakly. He and Naruto never had to use words to communicate anyway. He knew Naruto could read every emotion etched into his body and face, just as Sasuke could see every thought and feeling Naruto had. There was never really any secrets between them, even if they had wanted them to be. Even if they denied it at the beginning. So he knew Naruto saw that Sasuke's time was up. He was going where Naruto could not chase him down, not for a while.

With his remaining strength, Sasuke lifted his arm and poked his forehead, just like Itachi used to before the village ordered him to kill their family. Maybe later, usuratonkachi. Trembling, Naruto leaned into the touch, his gaze never once leaving Sasuke's. Sasuke lowered his hand once more and grabbed Naruto's, clasping their hands together and opening the mind-link between them as the matching marks on their palms touched. 

The Valley of the End. They were thirteen, and Sasuke was leaving the village. Giving up his allegiance to the Hokage.

Betraying Naruto. 

And for what? A promise from a devious snake-man to make him powerful enough to kill his brother? Naruto could see so clearly that Sasuke's place was with him, at his side, as they grew powerful together. He should be with his family, not getting trained into oblivion by someone who was obviously using him for his own gains. And Naruto would keep driving that point into his head for as long as it took. Because they were friends, like it or not, and Naruto wasn't going to let go of the only family he had left.

And then Sasuke shoved a chidori through his lung. 

All the air flooded out of Naruto, only standing now because his back was pressed up against the cliff face and Sasuke's arm was still in his chest. Naruto's eyes, turned red and slitted by the Demon Fox's chakra, stared into Sasuke's. Naruto spluttered weakly as blood filled his lungs and the demon chakra worked at healing him, though it didn't make much progress. "I'll... still chase you," he coughed. "Even if you curse me, hate me. I'll still follow you, because you are my friend and I never give up. I'll shoulder your hatred and die with you. I promise."

Sasuke only smirked and yanked his hand out of Naruto's chest. "I'm not dying here. You will, because I hate you and you mean nothing more to me than a way to get the same eyes my brother has. I will leave, and become so powerful you will be crushed under my heel like an insect," he snarled, ignoring the way his heart twisted painfully at his own words. 

"No. I..." But Naruto collapsed on the bank of the river that ran through the valley, finally succumbing to his injuries and falling unconscious. Sasuke sagged suddenly, all the fight leaving him as it began to rain. Sasuke hovered over the body of the boy he called his best friend, watching as the rain dripped off his nose and onto Naruto's face. 

Even after everything Sasuke had done, even after his promise to live in hatred, he couldn't do it. He couldn't kill Naruto, couldn't kill his closest friend.

Didn't want to, even as he hoped Naruto was actually dead.

And if the water that ran down his face as Sasuke staggered away wasn't just rain, well. That was nobody's business but his own.

Naruto stared in shock at the boy lying in his arms. The golden chakra around him guttered, though it didn't extinguish. "You... all this time, Sasuke, you..." 

Sasuke's mouth curled into the first real smile he had ever shown Naruto as he nodded ever so slightly. Naruto let out another sob, this one more heart-breaking than before. "Me too," he choked out. "Me too, you idiot, why did you think I chased after you all those years? You bastard, telling me this right before you- you leave me again, I hate you," Naruto pulled Sasuke closer to his chest and Sasuke could only barely feel the warmth of his chakra through the cold numbness that was beginning to descend over him. 

Naruto kissed him. It wasn't their first kiss, or even their second, but those were accidental and didn't count. This one, though... this one they meant. It wasn't particularly nice and it tasted of tears and sweat and blood, and it was full of desperation. Naruto was so, so desperate to hold on to the person he loved, the person whose back he had stared at for the past three years and probably since before that, too. 

It was a last kiss, and both of them knew it. They broke apart and Naruto rested his forehead on Sasuke's, his tears dripping down onto Sasuke's unnaturally pale face. Naruto released the chakra that made him glow, his beautiful blue eyes staring straight into Sasuke's. "I love you," Naruto whispered into the sacred space between them. 

Sasuke had always known he would die drowning. For all that he had lived by fire and lightning, it was fitting that his end would come by water, his lungs filling with liquid and taking his breath away. 

And perhaps this was not the end he had pictured for himself, but he did drown. As blood filled his lungs and took his breath away, he looked up into Naruto's eyes. As always, his eyes shone a brilliant, bright blue. They had always been impossibly deep and impossibly lovely, and now they were filled with tears. 

And as dawn broke over the horizon, the sky stained as red as the blood staining Sasuke's chest, Sasuke drowned in the beautiful blue of Naruto's eyes. 

The war didn't last for much longer after that. 

Naruto felt it in his chest when Sasuke had breathed his last, felt the bond between them sever like a cut thread. He was unmoored and off-balance without his other half, the darkness to his light, the literal moon to his sun. The universe had pushed them together for so long it was cruel to yank them apart after they had truly, finally, found each other. 

Naruto let out a low, keening wail full of misery and pain into the break of day. It was hard, so, so hard, for Naruto to stand back up again and get rid of the remaining zetsu.

Anything that dared to think it could lay a finger on Sasuke would die a slow, painful death. 

Back home, people were rebuilding. Funerals were held, shinobi mourned, and life went on. Naruto was called the Savior of Konoha and Kakashi was made Hokage after Tsunade stepped down, though he clearly didn’t want the post. He told Naruto he was just holding onto the hat for him until he could take it, anyway. 

When Sakura learned of Sasuke’s death, she collapsed into Naruto’s arms and cried long and hard. He didn’t mind; Naruto knew someone had to be there for her, and he was the only one who knew Sasuke as well as she did. Kakashi just looked on, something tired and guilty and long suffering in his eyes. His shoulders sagged, even as he sat on the worn out couch that had somehow made its way to Naruto’s new apartment. 

Naruto was just numb. 

Six months after the war, everyone had moved on and adjusted reasonably well. Old classmates and new friends paired up, ready to start a new life in the rubble of their old. 

Hinata came by often. She and Naruto had become friends in the last months, after Neji had died for them. They bonded over their grief, and Hinata eventually became one of Naruto’s closest confidants. 

One day while she was visiting, she looked up at him over the card game they were playing, lavender eyes and dark hair shining softly in the mid morning light. 

“Would you like to date, Naruto-kun?”

Naruto had been so surprised he dropped his cards.

She was staring at him intently, face open and honest. Naruto was at a loss for words. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know she was in love with him and had been for a long time, she had admitted as much herself in battle, but...

”I can’t,” Naruto said softly. “Hinata, I’m sorry, I- I can’t,” he finished lamely.

Hinata merely inclined her head. “I understand, Naruto-kun,” she murmured. She set down her cards on the coffee table between them. “Thank you for the company, Naruto-kun, but I think it would be best if I left now.” And with that, she left, shutting the door softly behind her.

Sitting there dumbly, Naruto couldn’t help but feel that more than one type of door had shut between them. 

They were no strangers to death; no shinobi was. It was inevitable in their line of work. A comrade would be killed, or they would take a mission to kill someone else. Death was nowhere near a new concept to them, to any of them. Had been as constant a companion as any of their other loved ones. 

And that was why, perhaps, Naruto greeted it like an old friend when it came to take him one spring morning. He wasn’t upset. There was nothing more in this world for him now that Sasuke was gone. Sakura would move on, and so would Kakashi and any of their other friends. The village would be alright without their savior now that peace was here. And it was fitting: Naruto had always chased after Sasuke, even when everybody told him to give it up and it seemed impossible. This was no different. Naruto would always follow Sasuke, no matter where he went. It’s just how it is.

So when death came with open arms, Naruto fell right in, because it meant he would get to follow Sasuke once more.

Sunlight slanted through windows half concealed by blinds. The bed was warm and soft and smelled like ash and cinnamon.

It smelled like home. 

Naruto rolled over, stirring gently into wakefulness and looking over at his beloved. He reached out a hand and brushed the jaw of the man sleeping across from him with nothing but the utmost love. 

Sasuke’s eyes opened, sleep clouding them but still obviously happy. He smiled gently, hand reaching up to grasp the one on his face. “Good morning, love,” he said. He reached over and pressed a kiss to Naruto’s mouth, smiling into it. Naruto did too, his lips slanting pleasantly underneath Sasuke’s.

”Good morning, teme,” He said, amusement coloring his tone. Sasuke huffed a laugh and rolled back over. 

“Come on dobe , let’s make coffee,” Sasuke said. “You know you’re useless without it.”

Naruto made a sound of mock offense, but they both knew it wasn’t real. “Just a little longer,” he pleaded. Sasuke folded pretty quickly. “Just a little longer,” he agreed.

And so it was, two souls bonded by the universe, reconciled once more for the rest of time.