One More Light

Chapter 15

Gaara had no intention of letting this change in events derail his plan to heal Naruto. He knew he could reach him if he just kept trying.

They spent the night, sleeping beneath the stars of Suna. Gaara woke with the sunrise but Naruto remained asleep. Gaara could see a familiar red chakra cloak forming around his friend and realised it was the Kyuubi's turn to heal a piece of Naruto. Gaara left a sand clone to watch over Naruto while he organised events for the day. Y

'Kit, you have already made so much progress just by leaving the leaf with him. Don't let Sasuke ruin this for you.'

'You don't understand Kurama. It's my fault Sasuke is doing all this. I should've stopped him. Why wasn't I strong enough? I wish I had died in that valley. Everything since has just been pain and despair.'

'You are not responsible for his actions. Nothing he does is because of you. He is stuck in a different kind of darkness. You want to hurt yourself, he wants to hurt others. Let me show you what I mean. Let's watch his actions towards you from the very start. Pay attention Kit. He has always been this way.'

The Kyuubi walked naruto through all his memories of Sasuke. Naruto watched his memories as if they were happening to someone else. All the times he was ridiculed and bullied by Sasuke. All the times he had saved the Uchiha but was still tormented as being a failure. Everything he had done for his friend that was never acknowledged or praised. Naruto started to understand that Sasuke didn't know how to show gratitude or appreciation much like He didn't know how to receive it.

The last memory to appear was their fight at the valley of the end. Naruto didn't think he could handle watching his failure but he felt Kurama's chakra wrap around him protectively and pressed on. Everything happened in a blur but the pain he felt at that valley was a potent as ever. He began to realise that Sasuke had been seeing their bond as a problem, a tie that needed to be severed. Nothing Naruto had done could've changed that. Sasuke couldn't find the light and had chosen to destroy anything that could. Naruto finally understood.

'Ok. I get it. We are two sides of the same coin. I want to die. He wants to kill. Only we can change that for ourselves.' Naruto whispered in his mindscape, feeling lighter than he had in months.

—-

Gaara met up with Temari and Kunkuro to plan for the days activities. His first idea was to help with grounding strategies which it was clear Naruto needed help with. Something to help him feel when he was overwhelmed rather than a Kunai.

The activity involved fusing sand with chakra to create a bracelet that would react to different emotions and create a pressure or sensation for the wearer based on the emotional need. Gaara smiled as his plan unfolded. All that was missing was the guest of honour. Gaara waited patiently for Naruto to arrive with his clone.