Re; Naruto

Platonic

Naruto yawned as he shifted on his bed, somehow awake at around five in the morning. He sat up and looked around at the tangle of limbs on his floor. Kiba had somehow used Shino's head as his body pillow. Naruto was impressed that Shino can still breath. Shikamaru huddled in the corner, curled up like a millipede. Shaking his head, he noticed that Sasuke was missing from the pile of boys on the floor.

Raking his hand through his hair, he stepped gingerly around the long limbs of teenage boys and across his room to get to the door. He lazily circulate warm chakra in his body to combat the cold chill of winter morning. He stretched his limbs as he walked around, sensing life downstairs. Sticking his head into the master bedroom to check on Minato, he was satisfied to see the man peacefully asleep.

Naruto made his way to the ground floor and found Sasuke huddled up on the couch with his borrowed blanket, covered so completely that only his head can be seen. Naruto snorted, causing the Uchiha to look at him and the blond immediately noticed the tears down the boy's cheeks. Frowning, Naruto approached him, "Are you okay?"

Sasuke's lips trembled, "No..."

Naruto sighed and walked to the kitchen. After a few minutes, he handed a warm cocoa to Sasuke's freezing body, "Here. I'll turn on the heater,"

After a moment, he sat next to Sasuke and slowly sip his hot beverage. It was only on days like this that he would appreciate warm sake. Too bad his body's too young to be able to handle alcohol healthily. He sat in the dark for a moment before asking, "Wanna talk about it?"

Sasuke sniffled, "You'll find me disgusting,"

Naruto blinked. He didn't expect to talk about it but it seemed that it has been eating Sasuke up inside. He shrugged, "Try me,"

Sasuke fell silent for a moment before asking, "How do you handle heartache?" He continued without waiting for Naruto to answer, "How do you face someone that you fell in love with knowing that they'll find you disgusting? How do you stay sane watching them flirt with someone other than you?"

Naruto sighed. He missed his Sasuke. But this one is just a child. Large in body but small in heart, old in physical but young in mind. He leaned back, taking a long sip of his cocoa before answering, "Acceptance,"

Sasuke frowned, "Acceptance?"

Naruto nodded, "Heartache sucks,"

Sasuke looked at him, "Have you...had your heart broken?"

Naruto smiled, reminiscing the old days when he was still hoping for Sakura. He might have made up his mind that she will never like him the way she did Sasuke, but it took the 3 years of his journey with Jiraiya around the world to finally get over his young love enough that he can play around with her when he get back. His childish pining for her had evolved into a sibling-like affection and he was fine with it. He realized that young Sasuke's watching and chuckled, "I did,"

Sasuke scowled, "They must have been an idiot,"

Naruto laughed, "She was an idiot in love too. I like her but she love someone else. Someone who did not think he could ever love because he was afraid of losing the person he love. He had lost too much to be able to freely love anyone. The fear of loss ruled his relationship with others for a very long time. But she never stopped loving him. Even when she gives up that he will ever return to her, she never stopped loving him,"

Sasuke was confused, "But...if she just look at you-,"

Naruto shook his head, "That'll make her fickle. She tried to love me, I know. She told me that she loves me but...I call on that lie and told her that I hate liars the most," Naruto looked at him, "True love doesn't always stay in the same form forever. Like all things in life, love evolve with time. To love and have it ignored is painful but...when you accepted that and move on, it doesn't mean that love has disappeared. It simply change its form,"