Letters we wrote

Letter 2

Two days later, Sasuke was taking a break from walking, he had finally reached a nice village so he decided to stop for tea. He had finally reached the south border of the land of fire. He sat down at the first tea house he saw, bought a few rice cakes and tried to relax.

When suddenly he felt something coming up his leg. It was the snake he had sent with the letter.

"You're back?" he said, puzzled, as he picked it up. It was only then when he realized there was a paper roll on its back. "It's either the same one and you didn't deliver, or the idiot replied..." he wondered as he took the piece of paper in his hands.

"I can't say it's not good to know from you."

Were the first words he read, to his surprise it was indeed a reply, he would recognize Naruto's messy handwriting anywhere. In that moment he confirmed how useless it was to tell the blonde he couldn't do something. He rolled his eyes but kept reading.

"And if you really thought I wouldn't answer you clearly don't know me at all."

Oh, I know you, usuratonkachi, he thought, rolling his eyes again.

"I will admit, your letter surprised me, but as I said, it was good to know you're okay and not getting in trouble. Yet."

Sasuke squint. But he kept reading.

"The Hokage training is going well, I think, I don't know, it's pretty hard and I'm not getting as much sleep as I'm used to! Believe me, Shikamaru and Sakura have made sure of that.

But I guess that's Hokage life, right? Kakashi looks tired, like, really tired.

Right now I'm still in bed. I know, I know, what a lazy ass, but hey, it's saturday! Plus, your stupid snake woke me up!

And no one has come to bother me so far, so I have some peace and quiet time.

Oh! I also got my arm 2 weeks ago! It works perfectly. I'm going to insist just one more time that you should've gotten yours, but whatever, I still understand.

Shit I honestly started writing this with no idea what to say. I guess this is still writing, though.

Anyway, I hope this reaches you soon. Kinda hoping you'll reply.

And don't worry, I'll do my best not to tell anyone.

Naruto"

Sasuke stayed looking at the paper for a few minutes, the snake was still looking at him.

"Oh, yeah" he said with no emotion on his voice, took a small cookie from his satchel and gave it to the snake "I'll call you later" the animal looked happy and disappeared.

Should he reply? He questioned himself. But then again, why had he written in the first place?

And then, that image he saw in the Valley of the End showed up, that image that made him let go of the anger and frustration that he was holding on to. There was Naruto, and all he stood for, all his bonds, all his work, and him, there by his side, sharing his dream, his world. His heart ached each time that image appeared in his head, but warmed his heart like nothing else at the same time.

That's right, he didn't want to stand alone anymore, that dream of being the one that'd carry the pain on his own had vanished, and now, despite needing this time to reflect and understand the world better, a part of him didn't want to do it completely alone.

And although Naruto was the hardest person to face, he was the only one he could think about, it was the only one that was hard to leave behind. And the letters would make it easier.