Sorrow and Hope
The sky was blood-red and the stars had transformed. At first he couldn’t understand what it was he was looking at but quite soon it dawned on him that vault was sprawling with crimson and black patterned eyes looking down at him from above. So this was Sasuke’s genjutsu. Naruto tried to get up from the cold ground just to find he couldn’t lift a finger. His body wasn’t responding to his brain’s wishes. Fear flared in his chest. He was helplessly at the will of Sasuke. Naruto tried to speak the boy’s name but not a single sound came out of his mouth. He was pinned down. Bound to the ground by an invisible force. He couldn’t move nor speak.
In the corner of his eye he suddenly saw movement. A shadow crouching in the dark red shine from the sky. He could almost make out the outline of a human, sitting on the ground, head against knees.
-
Sasuke was shaking relentlessly, while chaotic thoughts bombarded his confused mind. He was sitting on the ground, forehead against his knees, like a child, and he felt as if something had broken inside of him. Everything that had happened during these last couple of hours had shattered his whole existence. He could no longer see his path clearly before him, his road to revenge, to reckoning. The one thing that had made sense, the one thing that had made him keep on going, through all his hardship up until this point. He felt lost and it was all Naruto’s fault. Even his anger towards the stupid ninja had abandoned him. Why? What had happened? All the emotions that had stirred inside him had thrown him off his game. What had he done? He could feel himself blushing and felt even more out of control. What the hell was going on? What was happening to him? Unwillingly his eyes glanced at the boy frozen flat on his back. He could see the red gleam shimmer in the boys clear blue eyes and he knew Naruto had woken.
“Why?”, he could hear his voice breaking with every syllable. Sasuke knew the boy was unable to retort, but couldn’t help but to ask anyway. He needed answers so badly.
He got to his feet, trembling, and went to sit next to Naruto. In the blonde’s face he could see the fright he was experiencing in not being able to move, in being at his mercy. Sasuke leaned over the boy and looked into the heavenly blue eyes, meeting their gaze.
“Why, Naruto?”, his voice a whisper. He was weak. Broken. He was still shaking, with sadness and fear.
The blue eyes were defiant, as always. Naruto was always fighting, even now. Sasuke could reach out and end him in matter of seconds, but Naruto still had that bright light burning inside of him. That thing in the soul, singing so clearly. Sasuke could see hope inside his former friends eyes. A small flickering sensation spread through his abdomen and he couldn’t bear it. He crouched together, holding his arms clenched around his body.
“I love you”.
Sasuke flinched at the sound of Naruto’s voice. How could he have spoken? He realized too late that he, somehow in his despair, had broken the jutsu and they were again sitting under the clear, starry sky.
Sasuke could feel tears falling down his cheeks. It was so long ago since he had felt this lonely and lost. That night when Itachi had killed their parents and left him with all his anger and sorrow, all alone.
-
Naruto looked up onto the crying raven-haired boy beside him. Slowly he rose and folded his arms around his friend. He felt Sasuke trembling in his arms, his warmth spreading into every corner of Naruto’s being. He leaned his head against Sasuke’s and pressed him closer. He could feel his heartracing in his chest. He wanted nothing more than to sit like this forever. He was a little worried about the fact that Sasuke wasn’t resisting being this close, but the satisfaction of finally having him in his arms was overwhelming.
“I hate you…”, the words were nothing more than a notion. “I hate you so much…”. Words without meaning. Naruto could feel Sasuke’s hand grasping his sweater, pulling him even closer. “I hate you…”.