All These Years And One Night

Thirteen (Lost Draft)

"Are you sure we should go back now? Naru still cries, then he'd bury himself in my arms and chest saying sorry..." Sasuke voiced his concern to his sensei.

"We have to. This mission has gone on long enough." Kakashi answered.

Sasuke nodded with a sigh, "I'll go grab our things and tell Naru."

~~~

"Hey, Naru..." he called softly taking their bags in the process.

"Sasu-chan?" Naruto muttered as he sat up from the large futon they both slept in.

"We'll be leaving now, come on."

Naruto froze, but with a gulp... He slowly stood up and latched himself into Sasuke's arms.

"Alright... But don't leave me once we get there, please... I'm sorry..."

Sasuke softly smiled and kissed his forehead, "Okay, Naru."

~~~

Arriving back at Konoha, Naruto was still silent.

Sasuke had an arm around his waist trying to cheer him up.

But when they went to report to the hokage, he couldn't even cheer himself up.

"The Uchiha clan has been massacred, only Sasuke and Itachi are left. But once it happened, Itachi had left and became rouge."

-

This time, Sasuke was also sad. But he hid it with a small smile in front of Naruto. He had to be strong, for him.

Without Naruto, he was extremely snappy. He would get mad easily and he glared at everything. Everything but the only family he has left who needed him.

"Naru..." he softly called to the sleeping blonde.

"Sasu-chan?" Naruto muttered as his eyelids fluttered open.

"C'mon let's take a bath together." Sasuke said with a small smile.

Naruto rubbed his eye a little, "When was the last time...?"

"We got wet from the rain and..." Sasuke cut off his words.

"...Mom prepared a bath for us with lukewarm water." Naruto finished.

"Yeah..."

~

Naruto, he was being selfish.

He was sad that the only family he ever had was gone.

But he knew, that it was really Sasuke's family from the start. Yet, he acts as if it was his family that died.

And all he ever does was rely on Sasuke. The funeral, the compound, even himself. And now he feels guilty.

He should've done better for the only family who accepted him.

Naruto was leaning back unto Sasuke's chest as they just stayed in the tub.

He slowly turned around to face the other.

"...you can let it out."

Sasuke's eyes perked up to him, "What?"

"You don't have to be strong for me... I've been relying on you too much for far too long... I've mourned, so now I'll be your shoulder to cry on as you have been for me..."

Sasuke, he looked... Well he looked mad... And sad... Confused... Relieved... It was such an array of emotion that made his onyx eye gleam.

Naruto gently patted Sasuke's head as tears threatened to spill.

"It's okay, Sasuke. We're still here for each other..."

Just like that, his tears dripped.

-

Author's Note:

If you haven't already read it, I'll just insert the written author's note from the previous chapter:

After many, many, many comments about how this book will be handled, I've decided to publish the last two drafts written by me years back when I was still able to work on this book.

I wouldn't be able to finish this book, but whoever's up for it is free to have their own go! You can add to the already published chapters, write a new book inspired or based on this one, or even completely rewrite this book! All I ask is to add a link to the original, or maybe even send me a link so I could put it somewhere here for others to find if they're interested.

I've found that a lot of people seemed to really enjoy this, and I'm really regretful that I'm not able to finish it for you. I hope you still enjoy these two extra chapters!

~Lille Ally Sato