My not so Distant Memory

I'm with you at last

Next to the boy in his visions, was the boy he had been spending the last few weeks with, Naruto. He had a striking resemblance to the other, with the same shiny grin. Upon looking further, Sasuke's eyes widened and he held in a gasp as he came to a sudden realization.

The two boys looked exactly the same, and both were calling out to him.

"Teme!"

~

Sasuke winced at the loud rusted creak of the door hinges as he made his way into the ancient office chamber. After coughing out a mouthful of dust, he squinted his eyes from the glaring sun to see a slouched over Naruto in the chair next to the desk, the purple crystal still tight in his grip.

That dobe. Leave it to him to fall asleep on a chair in the middle of the day.

Naruto looked extremely peaceful as he slept. Sasuke gingerly reached his hand out, so as to not wake the blonde up, and rested it onto the other's soft face, gently stroking his cheek.

He looked at the stone still clutched tightly in Naruto's hand, then let his gaze wander around the room. His eyes finally fell onto the cluttered shelf hidden in the back right corner of the room' A small smile began to form itself on his lips.

"I think I can finally say I understand now. This necklace, this shelf, and this room. It's all yours, isn't it, Naruto?"

~

The hiss of his golden chakra slowly snaking its way back into his systems was the only sound that could be heard in Konoha, or at least what was left of it. He felt his eyes widen at the desolate sight.

Everything that he had once known was gone. Buildings were destroyed to rubble and burned to ashes. Belongings were haphazardly thrown around, in a last-ditch effort to save what they could. Blood had stained the floor and walls, tainting the whole area in a red stain that could never be washed out, no matter how hard you scrubbed.

And bodies.

Corpses lie all over the place. Some were burned, others crushed, others so mutilated by knives and kunai you would have never been able to tell they were human.

Tears fell from his eyes as his knees gave out. He wretched all over the ground, shaking from his convulsions and his fear.

"It's all my fault, isn't it? I left for four years, and when I come back, everybody is dead. Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, and Tsunade-baa-chan! They're all dead, and there's nothing I can do about it now except live with the burden of knowing it was my fault."

"Even Sasuke, who I tried so hard to protect, that I was so blinded by my own selfish desires that I ended up killing him with my own bare hands. Sasuke, who I loved so much, is now gone, and I never got to say goodbye."

He lay collapsed on the ground, as his never-ending stream of tears soaked in the ashen dirt. It wasn't until the sun was setting that he shakily rose onto his feet and made his way into the village, determined to give the victims a proper burial.

~

"Well jiisan, this is my stop! Will you be alright on your own?"

"Oh don't worry about me! I should be thanking you for accompanying me all the way here, in fact. Anyways, isn't this the ruins of Konohagakure? I thought nobody lived here anymore after those riots."

Naruto stiffened up considerably at the reminder.

"Ah, sorry if I stepped on a sore spot. This must be sensitive for a kind lad like you. I understand."

"Haha. It's alright. Recently, I've been able to start moving on. I actually left Konoha before the riots even started, and didn't come back until they were already over. I felt, and still feel extreme pain for my friends, family, and citizens who fell victim to this crisis. I buried them each one by one and gave them each a proper funeral. It was the least I could do since I did nothing to prevent it in the first place."

He took a deep breath before continuing.

"But, when I was burying the corpses, I saw every single familiar face I could think of, except for one. I think that he is still somewhere out in the world, and I want to be able to find him one day. I had made a promise with him a long time ago, that I would always stay by his side, so when I see him again, I won't break that vow I had made as a child ever again."

~

"Hn, I should have known. Knowing from your nindo, it isn't like you to go back on your word isn't it, usuratonkachi."

Naruto's eyes slowly drifted open, as he adjusted his blurry vision to the blinding light of the sun.

"Oh, Sasuke-san. Is it ok for you to be away from Orochimaru-san?"

Sasuke slid his hand from the blonde's cheek to fork through his soft hair, as he pulled his head into a soft embrace.

"I don't need to be there anymore, I'm sorry."

Although he tried his best to hide it, Naruto was thoroughly confused.

"Why are you apologizing to me? If you figured out what you needed to, then I couldn't be happier. What's strange is, I actually had one of those hallucinations just now. I dreamt of coming back to this tower after years of being gone, and cleaning out this very room, and setting up the shelf. Maybe, sometime in the past, Sasuke-san and I were able to live together before we were reincarnated. I hope that was the case, although my hopes are not high."

Naruto's mouth turned at the corners to flash a bright grin, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Truth was, he was on the verge of tears.

"Goodbye Sasuke-san. I'm happy to have been able to spend time with you and decorate the shelves together. I hope whoever you were searching for was able to keep their promise."

You might not remember anything from our pasts, but the truth is, you have never stopped trying to find me.

He pulled his hands back, to the other's surprise, with a small sigh. He then bent over to eye level and leaned forward, and captured Naruto's lips in his for a soft kiss.

"Yeah. Although I didn't know it then, you were always by my side."