After all I did...

Waiting

A low whine is heard as the wind passes by, its speed slowly picking up.

The leafs carried by the wind flutter in erratically as they pass by a lone figure.

The figure has his eyes, which are filled with helplessness, locked on the village below him.

His sits in a defeated slump.

"What's wrong with me."

His soft voice diluted by the winds cry.

In the streets, the blond figure called home, his best friend walked in a slow pace. His eyes locked on the ground in front of him. He wasn't paying attention to his surrounding very much. He knew where he was, but he didn't really have an aim or direction. He was simply walking to walk.

"Sasuke! Wait!" A feminine voice calls from behind him.

He turns his head and sees Hinata running to catch up to him. He stops walking and lets her catch up.

She catches up and pants lightly, "Where are you going?"

"I was planning on going to Ichiraku and waiting. Why?"

"Jiraiya said that he would be there at around sunset."

"That long huh?" Sasuke sighs. He looks up at the sky. The sun still had at least two hours before it would be at the horizon.

"Then I guess I'll just wander the village until then. Unless you have any ideas." Sasuke looks at her again.

Hinata shakes her head, "I-i don't."

"Don't you need to check in with your clan? Won't they be worried about the heiress being missing for so long?" He says as he starts walking.

Hinata walks next to him, "They'll understand, I'm doing this for a f-friend."

"Hm, I would have thought the noble Hyuga clan would be more worried about formalities and tradition than friendship."

"Normally yes, but this isn't a normal day." She softly replies.

"Yeah, you have a point there."

They walk in silence for a short while, simply sticking to their own minds as they strolled through the streets.

"Listen, Hinata. I'm..." he pauses, " I'm sorry."

"Why?" She looks over at him confused.

"If I hadn't tired to leave the village this would have never happened. Naruto wouldn't have been through all of this in the first place and you wouldn't have had to go through the pain of seeing it all happen and being unable to help."

"His village wouldn't have hated him, " Sasuke continued, " and he would have never been attacked by the people he tries so hard to protect. This all happened because I was jealous of him and I wanted power. If I weren't such an idiot." A creak can be heard as he clenches his fists tightly.

"Sasuke, you can't blame yourself for all of this. F-for all we know, this would have happened if you had left or not. I don't t-think anyone places any blame on you, especially Naruto."

"It doesn't matter if people blame me or not. I am the reason this happened. The council and the Hokage herself tried to cover up my dumb mistake and it hurt so many people." He stop and punched the wall next to him. His teeth gritted as he squeezes his eyes shut in frustration.

"Orochimaru manipulated you. He knew you wanted power and messed with your head so you would betray everyone. Naruto saved you though, he broke Orochimaru's grip he had on you. I know that Naruto doesn't regret saving you for one moment. He would never regret helping a friend, even if it meant he got hurt."