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“W-w-why? Why is this happening?!” Naruto stared forlornly at the falling snowflakes.
“Naruto. Don’t leave the door open! You’re letting in all the cold air,” Sakura snapped.
Pouting, Naruto let the door close, slumping against it.
With how excited he’d been to leave Konoha for the first time for this mission, he couldn’t have imagined how desperately he’d want to return at the end.
He was tired. Physically, he was as energetic as ever, but mentally he was exhausted. All he wanted was to walk down the familiar streets of his village, have a bellyful of hot ramen, and Iruka-sensei’s fond smile and sympathetic ear. To tell him about all the crazy, awful, and wonderful things that had happened, and to brag to Konohamaru.
Had so little time really passed since Team 7 had left the village? He felt like it had been years.
He wanted to go home.
“Why can’t we just go? A real shinobi isn’t stopped by a little bad weather!”
Sakura groaned from where she knelt on the floor next to Kakashi. “Not this again. Just shut up, Naruto.”
The flicker of her eyes to her left betrayed the true cause of her aggravation, however.
Kakashi turned a page in his book with a lazy little flick that had both students grinding their teeth.
“Saa, the impatience of youth. An experienced shinobi knows when to push himself and when not.”
Without looking up, Kakashi’s head angled ever so slightly toward the corner where Sasuke sat with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.
Naruto deflated, his stomach dropping and then knotting in something uglier than anger.
He opened his mouth without knowing what he was going to say, but Kakashi cut him off.
“It’s not so bad to take things easy once in a while, you know. You can complain all you want, but the truth is that we were fortunate to be so close to this village when the blizzard hit. We could be stuck in a snow bank somewhere instead of warm and well-fed in this charming hut.”
He cracked his neck in an exaggerated manner and sighed. “When you get older you start to appreciate life’s little blessings.”
“You’re not even that old!” Sakura and Naruto shouted, pointing accusingly at their teacher.
“Ahh, how kind my cute little students are to compliment me this way.”
A wordless growl rose in response. Kakashi’s easy countenance turned serious.
“We should take the opportunity to make an offering while we’re here, to ease the souls of the recently passed.”
Silence fell. Naruto raised his voice hesitantly.
“You don’t think…this is because Haku…?”
It had seemed so fitting on the bridge when snow had begun to fall, light glinting off the flakes from a break in the clouds over the two still bodies below. Haku had been from a country where it snowed a lot, after all. Snow in May? It was not completely unheard of, but it was definitely uncommon enough to strike everyone as a sign.
The snow had melted as it touched the ground, and the clouds drifted away before the end of the day.
Then a little over a week later, after Team 7 had said their goodbyes and started their trek back through Fire Country, the snow had come back with a vengeance. “Blizzard” was overstating things, but the conditions were definitely not ideal for travel.
Naruto’s attention had been consumed by frustration at the weather, and at Kakashi for deciding not to push through it. Sakura had obviously felt the same, though she was a little less vocal about it. Uncharacteristically, Sasuke had not made any complaint about the delay. Not so much as an irritated expression or a meaningful silence. Nothing at all.
The lack itched in the back of Naruto’s mind like a splinter, discomfort spiking every time he noticed that his teammate’s skin was even paler than usual, or that his movements were half a second slower than they should be.
He’d been too distracted to make the connection that Kakashi seemed to be. Now that it had been laid out for him, though, it seemed obvious. Was Haku not truly at rest? Was he angry that they had let Zabuza, the person he most wanted to protect, die? Or was…?
Kakashi’s mask creased.
“Well, who knows? This world is full of mysteries.”
With that wording so unnervingly close to Naruto’s own thoughts about Haku at their first meeting, Naruto felt distinctly uncomforted.
The moment was shattered by the abrupt opening of the door. Naruto was flung forward into an embarrassing sprawl.
The younger boy in the doorway gaped. Surprise quickly turned to suspicion.
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?” Naruto shouted, all injured pride.
“I asked first!”
“Well, I asked last!”
“Children,” Kakashi interjected mildly.
“I am not a-“ both boys started in unison, stopping to glare at each other.
Sakura stepped over Naruto’s body and bent a little to smile into the stranger’s face.
“We’re travelers. Takeda-san was kind enough to take us in when the weather turned. You can call me Sakura-chan. What’s your name?”
The hard look on the boy’s face melted.
“Sakura…chan? Ah, I’m. My name is Ton.”
At his tone, Naruto glared as fearsomely as possible from the floor.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ton-kun,” Sakura said sweetly. Ton muttered a dazed reply. Naruto glared harder.
“This is Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei.” She gestured as she introduced them. Kakashi gave a little wave. Sasuke deigned to open his eyes.
“Sakura-chan,” Naruto whined, tugging at her pant leg.
“And that’s Naruto,” she said reluctantly. “Get up, Naruto.”
“But, Sakura-chan, you’re standing on my sleeve-“
“Oh, please excuse me,” she said through her teeth, ‘accidently’ kicking him as she stepped away.
Ton didn’t seem to notice, continuing to stare up at her with two bright spots of color in his cheeks.
Kakashi coughed discreetly. “What brings you here, Ton? Were you looking for our host?”
“Oh, uh, yes,” Ton said, straightening. “Me and the guys want to go ice skating, so I was going to invite Nin, uh.”
“Takeda’s son,” Sakura prompted gently.
“Yeah.”
“Takeda and Nin are out getting firewood right now. They said they wouldn’t be back for a while,” Naruto said pointedly. Ton ignored him.
“Maybe you’d like to come instead, Sakura-chan?”
She laughed a little nervously.
“Oh, I’m not really a great skater.”
“I’ll show you how! Come on, you would really be doing us a favor. There will be some little kids there, and it would be good to have an older woman around,” he countered, eyebrow lifting flirtatiously.
“You need an older person to accompany you?” Kakashi asked.
“Yeah, totally.”
Kakashi’s eyes curved.
“That’s perfect. I have just the person to send with you.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Why is this happening?”
The sight of children zipping along the frozen river was charming. Unfortunately, the spectacle was lost on Naruto, who stood fuming on the side.
"Why does it have to be me?"
"You’ve been pacing and moaning ever since we got here. It’ll do you good to get some fresh air and exercise. Besides, those kids need supervision. Think of it as a mission."
"But I-"
"Would you rather Sakura go with Ton?"
"No way-"
"Or Sasuke?"
"....."
“Once again, that bastard,” Naruto muttered.
“Hey, mister,” came from beside him. Naruto looked down. And down further.
“Aren’t you going to skate?” inquired the pint-sized child.
“Nah.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t.”
“Bet you’re bad at it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Bet I’m better than you.”
“Yeah, right. Beat it, kid.”
“Scaredy-cat.”
Naruto’s left hand spasmed. He breathed deeply and willed away the phantom pain.
“Maybe I was,” he said slowly. “But I’m not anymore. And I won’t ever be again.”
“Prove it. Race me,” the boy piped, small round face wrinkling in what was probably supposed to be an intimidating scowl. Naruto was forcibly reminded of Konohamaru.
The flat line of his mouth softened. He turned to face the kid fully.
“What’s your name?”
“Kenma.”
“Kenma, why do you want to race me? You don’t even know me. And I’m a lot bigger than you.”
The kid pushed his lower lip out, stabbing viciously at the ground with his skate.
“No one else will. They all laugh at me and say I’m too short to play.”
The glare returned without the pout fading, and Naruto reflected on how much it must suck for this kid to look so adorable when he was pissed.
“If they see me beat you, they’ll never say that again.”
Naruto squinted past Kenma at the laughing group of boys racing each other around the bend in the river. These must be the bullies, then.
“Fine.”
“What?” Kenma started in surprise.
“I’ll race. But don’t come crying to me when I crush you.”
“You’ll be the one crying!”
Excitedly, the younger boy hopped to keep up, taking several steps for each of Naruto’s.
At the edge of the river, they ran into Ton. He raised his eyebrows when he saw them together, and smirked.
“Hey, guys, it looks like Kenma’s found himself a babysitter.”
“And I thought I was sent here to babysit you,” Naruto returned.
Ton reddened.
“Oh, please. Your own people wanted to get rid of you, so they dumped you on us. Even that pretty girl hates your guts. I bet the pretty boy does, too.”
“How about a wager,” Naruto said with an unsettling smile. “If I beat you in a race, you leave my ‘people’ alone. You don’t look at them, you don’t talk to them, and you don’t talk about them. If you win, I’ll leave you alone and go back. Deal?”
Ton’s eyes widened. “Are you an idiot? You’re bigger than me. Of course you’ll win.”
“Then I’ll take a handicap. I’ll have a partner.” Naruto dropped a hand on Kenma’s head. “Him.”
“What?” Ton said as Kenma twisted around to stare up at Naruto.
“Yeah,” Naruto continued, “I’ll hold onto him, and we’ll beat you together.”
“What the hell. You’re crazy.”
Some of the other kids were starting to gather around, including the rowdy-looking boys Ton had been skating with.
“It’ll be way harder to skate with two than one. It’s a big handicap. Of course, we’ll beat you anyway. If you’ve even got the guts to try us, that is.”
One of Ton’s friends, who Naruto immediately dubbed ‘Freckles,’ started laughing.
“Go on, Ton. Teach the stupid outsider and the little baby a lesson.”
Kenma growled at that, batting Naruto’s hand away from his hair.
“Bring it on!”
Under the eyes of his friends, Ton gave in.
“Fine, you’re on. Hey, get the moron a pair of skates!”
Skates were thrown over with malicious force. Naruto plucked them out of the air easily.
“Let’s go!”
~~~~~~~~~~
They lined up on the frozen river and Ton turned to his opponents.
“Okay, around the bend there’s a big madrona tree with a red trunk and branches. The first one there wins. Oh, and make sure not to go much farther than that, because the ice is thinner over there.”
Naruto and Kenma nodded.
The blonde grabbed Kenma’s hand and struck a super cool “ready” pose, eliciting an unimpressed glance from his diminutive partner.
“Ugh, why do I have to hold a guy’s hand? Are you sure you’re not some kind of weirdo?”
“I am not! Is that how you talk to someone who’s doing you a favor?”
“You’re just in it for yourself. Don’t go putting on airs. Well, whatever. Just don’t slow me down.”
“Unbelievable,” Naruto sighed. “This is what I get for being such an awesomely nice guy.”
As the chosen referee started the countdown, scattered jeers came from the watchers.
“Destroy them, Ton!”
“Cry, little baby!”
“Stupid blondie, there’s no way you can win with the shrimp.”
The blonde in question grinned nastily.
“I’ll make you eat those words!”
At the cry of “Go!” all three launched themselves forward.
Within a few strides, it was evident that Kenma’s short legs were already holding Naruto back. The calls from the kids lining the side of the river took on a triumphant note.
Naruto’s grin widened and he yelled, “Special Skating Technique: Cat Carry!”
Almost too fast to follow, Naruto spun around Kenma, hefting him over one shoulder and then skating forward at full speed.
“What the hell kinda skating technique is that?” Cried Freckles. The boy next to him pushed his glasses up with one finger.
“It’s technically not against the rules. That guy never specified how he’d ‘hold’ Kenma.”
“But ‘Cat Carry’?”
“Hm. Could it be? Ah, it’s the strength and agility of a mother cat running with her kitten in her mouth!”
Awe silenced the kids for a moment. Then-
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” spat Freckles.
Glasses shrugged. “Well, it is working. At this rate, he’s going to pass Ton.”
This was true. There could be no doubt that Naruto and Kenma were swiftly gaining on their competition. Naruto was hampered a little by the fists hammering on his back and the legs nearly kicking out of his grip, however.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Let go of me, you pervert!” Kenma howled.
“Would you stop saying that?” Naruto panted. “I’m going to win this for both of us. Ow, would you quit that!”
Neither noticed when they actually shot to the lead, leaving Ton behind in a spray of ice particles.
“You’re only going to win for yourself! Idiot, what do you think everyone is gonna think of me if we win like this? You’re carrying me like a baby!”
“No way. You don’t carry babies like this. Their heads would fall off or something.”
“You know what I mean! Let go of me!”
With that, Kenma dug his teeth into Naruto’s back.
Naruto’s grip faltered as he yelped, and with a final scissor kick to his face, Kenma broke free. Both of them crashed heavily to the ice, sliding to a stop.
Through the buzzing ache in his skull, Naruto dimly realized that Ton was screaming. The words became intelligible a moment later.
“Watch out! The ice!”
Ton was quite a ways behind, next to a red blur.
Pushing himself up on hands and knees, Naruto’s eyes fell on a thin line in the ice running between his palms. He blinked away the haze in his vision, and saw that the line was joined by several other lines, and they all spread and widened as he watched. No, not lines. The word came to him. Cracks.
Belated alarm snapped his head up and he looked frantically for Kenma. There the small boy was, a couple yards away, in the center of a spiderweb of cracks. He was picking himself up, groggily shaking his head.
“Kenma, wait!” Naruto cried.
Too late. The boy finished climbing to his feet, his skates slicing into the jagged ice under him. Kenma looked up at the sound of his name, confusion turning to horror as the loud snapping sounds around him penetrated.
Naruto slammed a skate and a hand onto the ice and launched himself forward with arms outstretched, smacking into Kenma and sending the small boy flying in the other direction.
The ice seemed to explode around Naruto. Then there was nothing but whirling darkness and a shock so painful that at first he didn’t register it as the sensation of cold.
By the time his brain jolted back to life, he’d already been sucked downstream by the current. Fortunately, his training had borne some fruit- his mouth reflexively clamped shut as soon as he hit the water. He hadn’t swallowed any.
Naruto managed to force his eyes open against the searing cold. The world was a confusion of darkness and- there, a glimpse of faint light somewhere beyond his feet. He fought to turn himself over and move toward the light, striking out with arms and legs so numb he could barely tell they were moving. Finally, he made it, his hand smacking the solid surface of the pale blue.
He wrestled with panic, lungs burning around the mouthful of stale air bulging his cheeks. He groped for the holster at his thigh, clawing at the clasp until his fingers clenched around the round handle of the kunai. Naruto shoved the kunai through the water to pierce the ice as hard as he could manage. He had no leverage, however, and the tip barely penetrated, scraping along the surface as he was dragged by the current.
He pulled out another kunai with his other hand and likewise stabbed it into the ice. But even with both kunai points against the ice, there was still nothing beneath him to push against so he could thrust the blades in. The scratches they left certainly weren’t enough to fight the pull of the river, much less inflict any real damage on his prison.
Despair was sinking in as his lungs began to reach their limit, small bursts of air breaching his nose in bubbling streams, replaced by nothing.
A vice locked onto his right wrist with bruising force, and he released his kunai in shock. His body drew parallel to the ice as the current pulled him into a straight line against the unmoving force gripping him.
He felt each individual point of contact grinding his bones together, and a powerful sense of déjà vu seized him.
He forced his chin up, searching, and there it was. Two glowing embers in the dark, black strands lashing around a pale setting. More white stretching to clasp around his wrist, the color brilliant against the darkness.
Uchiha Sasuke was kneeling upside down on the ice, a visible glow of chakra securing his knee, foot and right hand to the surface. His left hand held Naruto’s arm tightly, his strength keeping Naruto in place as the river pushed against them both.
Catching on, Naruto exerted his own dwindling strength to push his free hand to the ice. He tried to summon chakra to fasten himself to it, but found nothing left. With a burst of stubborn fury, he reached deep inside himself and found energy there that burned and crackled in his core. He forced it outwards and his hand adhered, and then his knees, as he brought them up.
Sasuke let go of Naruto, shifting to both knees and raising his hands. He moved through water-slowed hand seals, then bent over. Gold and orange flared through the ice where his lips touched, spreading out in a circle. He fisted his hand and shoved it through the sunset colors. Bright white light flooded the hole he’d made.
Sasuke began to move into it, waving a hand at Naruto. Naruto attempted to crawl forward, but to his horror, didn’t have the strength to keep adhering to the ice as he did so. As he fell away, his mouth popped open on a soundless cry, water flooding in. His body jerked, and through his choking, Naruto saw that Sasuke had snagged his wrist again. Slowly Sasuke began edging back into the hole, dragging Naruto’s dead weight with him. Abruptly, something unseen yanked Sasuke upward. Naruto pushed down his mounting fear by focusing on the rock-steady grip still around his wrist. It felt as immovable on him as it had the day Sasuke had caught him in mid-fall from a tree.
It pulled him firmly up, now as then, and Naruto’s head broke water into freezing air.
Other hands grabbed him, and he was hauled out like a sack of rice, too exhausted to help pull himself up at all.
Arms pulled him back against a warm chest, and supported him as he coughed out what felt like a gallon of water. When he was able to suck in air again, he felt like crying in relief. His body was so heavy that he couldn’t even lift a finger. He could barely feel his own skin anymore, he was so numb. On the plus side, he didn’t really feel cold.
“Let go, son. You can let go now.”
From where Naruto was braced against someone’s chest, he realized he could see Sasuke slumped over someone’s arm. Though Naruto couldn’t feel it very well anymore, Sasuke’s fingers were still pressing into his wrist so hard they left deep grooves in his skin. The same person who held Sasuke was trying to force Sasuke’s hand open, but it wasn’t working.
“Sasuke,” Naruto managed to gasp through chattering teeth. “It’s okay. Let go of me so they can help us. Hey. Sasuke.”
Naruto’s eyelids were too heavy to keep open for long, but the feeling of pressure on his arm abated.
Then he was being dragged up and half-carried for what felt like a really long time. A deep voice vibrated through him, telling him to stay awake. He croaked back that he was awake, and it was true. That crackling energy had receded, but his body was recovering its own normal energy pretty fast. He felt some trepidation at the thought of what that might mean, but decided to worry about it later.
They reached a hut, but it wasn’t the one Naruto had been staying at with his team. He guessed this one must have been closer. The man who was supporting him helped him to strip his wet clothes off and then he was wrapped in a blanket and pushed close to a fire. The sensation of heat after being so cold made him feel like he was sitting in the fire rather than next to it. A mug was pressed into his hands and he was urged to drink something warm and sweet.
After he managed to get the liquid down, he was allowed to lie down on a bedroll. He fell asleep almost immediately.
~~~~~~~~~~
When Naruto next woke up, he was in Takeda’s hut, and felt fine, if a bit battered. Sakura and Kakashi had their backs to him, Sakura adding wood to the fire, and Kakashi leaning over the bed roll next to his. A tuft of black hair peeked out of the cocoon of blankets, and Naruto let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
He sat up, the rustle of blankets catching Sakura’s attention.
“Naruto!” She was at his side in an instant. “How are you feeling?”
He summoned a confident smile for her.
“I’m totally fine! It’ll take a lot more than a little dip in a river to keep Uzumaki Naruto down!”
Sakura’s lips curved in response, though the feeling didn’t reach her eyes.
He looked past her.
“Ha, did I wake up before Sasuke? What a wimp!”
The fact that Sakura did nothing but bite her lip was testament to how forced Naruto sounded, even to his own ears.
“How is the bastard, anyway?”
Kakashi turned his head.
“He’s recovering.”
There was something soothing in the way he spoke that put Naruto on edge.
He wrestled his way out of his blankets, despite Sakura’s protests, and crawled around to the other side of his teammate’s bedroll to face Kakashi.
On his side, with his back to Naruto’s bedroll, Sasuke’s flushed face was now visible, hair sticking damply to his skin. His breathing was shallow and husked alarmingly in his chest.
Naruto sat stock still.
“What’s wrong with him,” he said blankly.
Sakura turned away from where she’d been watching, eyes shining, and Naruto’s lungs seized like he was drowning again.
Kakashi reached over his sleeping student to rest a hand on Naruto’s shoulder.
“He’s recovering,” Kakashi repeated. “Not as fast as you, but he is.”
“That’s not…“ Naruto touched his knuckles to Sasuke’s forehead, and jerked back. “He’s feverish! Why is he so much worse than me?”
Kakashi waited patiently.
“He was still messed up from the fight with Haku,” Naruto answered himself slowly. “And then he jumped into freezing water and used up a bunch of energy saving me.”
“How exactly did he do that? Did you see?”
“He was using chakra to stick to the ice underwater, just like when we were walking up trees.” Naruto went on to describe what he could remember.
“So he dived in and ran around on the underside of the ice looking for you using his sharingan. When he found you, he used a Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu to create an opening,” Kakashi murmured thoughtfully.
“A Katon? He can do that underwater?”
“Normally, I would say no. But you said that he pressed his mouth against the ice. The fire wasn’t able to emerge in air, but the heat from Sasuke came up directly against the ice and melted it enough for him to break through.”
Naruto digested this.
“There were some guys who helped pull us out after that.”
“Yes. One of the kids- Genma or Kenma, I think- went to get help from the nearest home. If he hadn’t been so fast, even if Sasuke had managed to get you both completely out by himself, the two of you might have died from hypothermia.”
Naruto was silent. Kakashi gave his shoulder a squeeze before releasing it, sitting back on his heels.
“You’re both alive. Sasuke’s body has been under a lot of strain, and the exhaustion has caused a fever. He needs to rest, but he’s going to be okay. Try not to worry too much. Either of you.” Kakashi raised his voice on the last part, and Sakura cleared her throat.
“Yes, Sensei.”
Naruto’s head whipped up.
“Wait a minute, why was Sasuke even there?”
Kakashi stood up, cracking his back with a sigh.
“You’ll have to ask him that. The last we saw of him he’d gone on a stroll to get some air.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto wound up having to wait another week to ask him. Truthfully, he could have done it a few days earlier, when Sasuke was alert but Kakashi judged him still too weak to travel any distance, but Naruto didn’t feel comfortable having the conversation with the rest of their team listening in.
The day they set off was as clear and sunny as though the unseasonable snow had been a dream. As the people of the small village saw them off, Sakura fussed over an annoyed Sasuke, insisting on checking the weight and straps of his pack, while an elder conversed with Kakashi about the strange weather, touching the back of his hand to his mouth superstitiously. Meanwhile, Kenma dragged Naruto to the side.
“Are you really okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Good.”
Kenma was at the perfect height to punch Naruto viciously in the crotch, the blonde found.
As he curled up in a ball and whimpered, Kenma crossed his arms above him.
“That’s for being a complete moron.”
“You’re right, it was completely moronic for me to save your life,” Naruto wheezed. “Come closer and I’ll fix that.”
“Please. My life wouldn’t have been in danger if you hadn’t come up with such a stupid plan in the first place. Am I supposed to be grateful for that? From the first minute we met, you treated me like a stupid little kid who couldn’t do anything for himself. And then you nearly got yourself killed for me. I never asked for your help.”
Naruto felt a stab in his chest at the familiar words.
Kenma bent down, getting right in his face.
“I’m never going to let anyone treat me like a burden ever again. I’m going to get strong enough to be a real partner to my friends and share the load. I’m not going to be a ‘handicap’ anymore.”
The blonde flinched.
Kenma moved back and looked to the side, relenting a bit.
“At least no one’s laughing at me anymore. No thanks to you.”
The edge of Naruto’s lips crooked, despite himself.
“I heard your skate to get help was so fast it’s becoming a legend already.”
“Not fast enough. It was so close. They said if I’d been just a little later…”
Kenma’s lower lip trembled and Naruto remembered that he was actually pretty little, for all his bravado.
Hastily, he said, “Heroes always come just in time, of course! I guess I should be thanking you, for saving both me and Sasuke. So, yeah. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Kenma returned Naruto’s smile reluctantly.
“Usuratonkachi. We’re leaving.” Sasuke’s voice came drifting over, and Naruto saw that his teammates were already heading out the gate.
He looked down at the touch on his arm to see Kenma studying him.
“Ton said that guy came running over out of nowhere and threw himself in after you, while everyone else was just freaking out. You’ve got an amazing friend there.”
Naruto’s eyes narrowed, which he tried to disguise by scratching the back of his head with a careless laugh.
“You’re talking to Ton?”
“More like he’s talking to me,” Kenma said smugly. “Those guys think I’m cool now.”
“I’m happy for you,” the blonde replied sincerely. He held out his hand. “I’m glad I met you.”
Kenma returned the grip, smiling.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“You guess?!”
“You’d better go before your team leaves you behind. I wouldn’t want you hanging around here like some weird pervert,” Kenma tossed over his shoulder as he walked back to the other villagers.
“What…ack! Guys, wait up-!”
~~~~~~~~~~
They’d been walking for a few hours before Sakura finally gave up on trying to mother Sasuke and moved up front to give him some space. Kakashi casually picked up his pace until he was beside her, leaving Sasuke and Naruto trailing in the rear.
“So,” Naruto said, stretching his arms upward and then crossing them behind his head.
Sasuke ignored him.
“What the hell were you even doing there in the first place?” He didn’t have to clarify further. They both knew what he was talking about.
“I went on a walk.”
“Yeah, Sakura-chan said she told you that dinner was ready and you suddenly announced you were going to take a walk. ‘I’ll be back soon.’”
He eyed the blank-faced Uchiha.
“The river was not exactly nearby, especially in the snow. It took us a while to get there.”
No comment.
Naruto fought to keep his voice even as he asked, “Wanna tell me why you were really there?”
After a long pause, during which Naruto’s hands clenched on his arms like they were throttling a certain person’s neck, he finally got a reply.
Sasuke lifted a shoulder. Let it fall.
“You were gone a long time.”
“So you were following me!”
Sasuke snorted.
“Don’t be stupid. I was walking around not that far away, and it occurred to me to drop by. You’d been complaining all day; I didn’t want to hear any more whining because we’d eaten without you.”
Naruto let his arms fall as his feet slowed. He stared at the back in front of him, the hands in pockets, spiky dark hair over a pack as large as his own. Sauntering along as easily as ever, with no apparent stiffness or fatigue despite having been bed-ridden for the better part of a week.
He started to put his own hands in his pockets, but his eye caught on his right wrist. The ring of bruises had already faded. The marks were no longer visible, but if he concentrated, he could still feel Sasuke’s fingertips grinding to the bone.
Returning his gaze to that proud back, a thought resounded in his mind as clear as a bell.
Sasuke was full of shit.
He’d always claimed so, of course, but Sasuke appeared to be full of shit about completely different things than he’d thought.
He found himself dashing forward, halting right in Sasuke’s path and forcing him to stop as well.
“You’re an asshole,” he snarled. “Again, you…I can take care of myself. I’m going to get so strong that you’ll have no choice but to admit that I’m just as good as you. No, that I’m better than you. I’ll be the one saving you.”
Sasuke’s dark eyes burned into him, his shoulders tensing.
“If that day ever comes, I’ll acknowledge you,” he drawled eventually. “Until then, get out of my way, dobe.”
The taller boy shouldered him aside.
Naruto stayed where he was, tilting his head to stare into the mostly clear sky.
He wondered if Haku’s spirit was angry or happy that after he’d died to save Zabuza’s life, Zabuza had turned around and sacrificed that life to avenge Haku’s honor. He had no doubt that Zabuza could have run away if he’d wanted to. Or maybe it wasn’t that at all. Maybe Zabuza had wanted to die so he could stay with Haku.
He recalled the awful feeling of Sasuke’s body stilling in his arms. The foreign blood slipping between his fingers.
Whoever got left behind, suffered, Naruto considered, counting corpses in the clouds. Did that make the very act of self-sacrifice…selfish?
He shook his head and ran to catch up to his teammates.
That was fine. It just meant that he and Sasuke would have to die together.