Diver

"Hey, I've been having this weird dream lately,"

"Yeah?"

"...Yeah"

Naruto stared at his hands that were clasped together, squeezing slightly before releasing them, letting them fall to the sides of his legs. He glanced up at his long lost friend residing on the couch beside him.

"What about?" Sasuke mumbled, with half of his attention on the book in his hands.

Naruto returned his gaze to his lap and sighed before resting his head against the back of the couch and running a hand through his hair. "You," he responded while shutting his eyes tight in a taut, agitated expression, seemingly hoping that if he can't see Sasuke, neither could he.

Sasuke lifted a brow shifting to look at Naruto slightly before returning to the book, "Explain," he sighed, trying to be casual.

Naruto sat back up, hunching over and resting his elbows on his legs, "it's weird," he says quietly, in a troubled tone.

"I'm falling," the blonde begins, telling his tale slowly, thinking over every word, "I feel hopeless, like something bad just happened and I can't seem to understand it."

Sasuke tenses some, clenching slightly too his book.

"Suddenly, before I can think I'm slamming into some water. It feels familiar," Naruto says as Sasuke gets a twinge in his back with the memory of past battles

"Time is moving so slow. I'm just drifting to the bottom, and it's dark, I feel like I'm surrounded by enemies," he continues, holding his forehead against a hand, "then you're there."

Sasuke looks at Naruto, who doesn't seem to be paying attention to him, "what am I doing?" he replies softly.

Naruto pauses. "Just," he thinks for a moment, "for awhile you're just...there, floating above. You're so close and I can't move my arm to reach out no matter how hard I try...," he grimaces harder, "but you get close. So close all I can see is you.... and your eyes."

Sasuke watches, leaned back slightly, wanting to give Naruto some space, or maybe to try and distance himself from the guilt.

"Then you begin moving, you're so much faster than everything else, you're-," he stops for a moment, debating wether or not to continue.

He takes a breath. "You're using your chidori, and you reel back your hand, shoving the lightning through me."

Sasuke considers for a moment reaching out to put a hand on Naruto, but decides against it.

"Then it's red. Red floods through the water,"

'same as your eyes,' Naruto says to himself, but Sasuke knows what color red it is. He shuts his eyes, to leave his family's jutsu behind just for a moment.

"I feel water in my lungs, and I struggle and try to swim, but I'm stuck in the same place, and you're gone," Naruto covers his eyes with his hands.

He turns his head, peaking at the Uchiha from the side of his palm. He sits back up, staring at the wall. The awkwardness hangs thick in the air, as the two old friends aren't sure what to do, how to comfort each other or what is too much to say. After all, 4 years is a long time. They've both changed a lot, and both have to learn what new boundaries the other has. Words are more difficult than punches.

"It's okay though," Naruto begins before Sasuke can decide what to say, "for me," the blonde says, with a twinge of guilt in his voice. Guilt that he had what Sasuke didn't.

"Everyone I know is lifting me up, out of the water. It's so fast, and I feel like I'm never reaching the top. My vision starts to fade out but I end up shooting into the sky," he says, his mood slightly less heavy.

"Everything feels clearer, safer?" He questions to himself, pondering how to properly describe his dream. "I gather myself, preparing to fight. I'm not sure what. But I readjust myself in the air and...," he stops and looks up at Sasuke, directly for the first time since he begun this tale.

"You're there again,"

Sasuke winces slightly, wondering what awful thing he's about to do.

"You're in the water, except it's darker. You're at the center of this like.... whirlpool?" Naruto's gaze returns back to his hands, "and you're just... letting it swallow you," he mumbles, almost bitterly.

Sasuke looks away, at where his hand would be if he hadn't lost his arm, if he hadn't let vengeance consume him. If he hadn't made mistakes- mistakes that he probably wouldn't do any different given another chance. Which is probably the saddest thing of all, but he'd never tell Naruto this.

"I get filled with this... frustrating determination," he starts again, "and I start just falling to you, and just as I hit the water the dream ends," Naruto sits up, turning slightly to Sasuke.

It's quiet for a moment.

"Wonder what that means," Naruto says in a somber, but joking tone. He laughs slightly, smiling awkwardly at his friend- trying to make light of the situation.

Sasuke smiles slightly back, "...yeah."

It's okay. They're okay. They're learning, and recovering. This is just part of it.