Mild Spoiler. NO PAIRINGS!
Admittedly... Naruto is a very forgiving person... But I don't know. To me, I think there's one thing he would never be able to forgive.
Disclaimer: As much as I would love to have Sasuke and Naruto smexing like cats in heat, they're K. Masashi's, and the chances of him doing that are slim to none. So... you'll all have to wait until I own them to see them smexing like cats in heat :grins:
When Uchiha Sasuke had returned to Konohagakure after his betrayal, he had known things would be different. He knew he wouldn't be as respected or as important because even in his absence, life for the villagers had gone on as usual. They had survived his absence, so why should his return make him any more important than usual?
Of course, the Hokage had accepted him back into the village, with much reluctance. Tsunade still didn't trust him, even if he had killed Orochimaru and Itachi. But, the elders insisted his bloodline limit was too important to let go to waste, so there he was, back in Konoha.
To Sasuke, much had changed, but other things had not. The second his return had been announced, he had been swarmed by all the single girls in Konoha. Most of the girls he'd grown up with had boyfriends, but they told him nicely and happily that they had missed him, and were glad he was home. He was impressed with their level of maturity, and the fact that they didn't dump their boyfriends to chase after him again. He was really grateful.
Everyone in the village had forgiven him in some way, shape or form, whether it be by letting him return to the village, or telling him personally that he was forgiven. Yes, everyone had forgiven him—except one person. The one person whose forgiveness was most important to him.
Naruto.
The Hokage-to-be had not spoken to him since his return, and no matter how hard Sasuke tried to talk to him, he was never able to. He 'just missed him' or the blond 'wasn't available'.
It hurt Sasuke to think that his best friend didn't want anything to do with him. Of course, he never showed it, but he felt it. He didn't understand how Naruto, of all people, couldn't forgive him.
But then, he didn't know about everything the blond went through because of him. Naruto almost died trying to stop him from leaving. He spent three years training to find Sasuke, only to be almost killed again as soon as they met. Had Sai not been there, Naruto would've died.
There was a lot Naruto had to go through because of the raven-haired Uchiha, so how could Sasuke even fathom the idea that Naruto would just forgive him? Did Sasuke honestly believe that he could just come back into the Hokage-to-be's life and have everything be like before? Truthfully, yes, he did. But that wasn't going to happen, because Naruto had survived without the Uchiha, so now that he was back, why should the blond need him?
Sasuke wasn't going to give up, though. That was why the raven was hiding around the corner of Naruto's favourite ramen stand, waiting for the blond to arrive.
Ten minutes later, Naruto appeared with Kakashi and Sai, the three of them talking and joking with one another. As soon as they reached the stand, Kakashi and Sai waved goodbye to the smiling blond before walking away.
Sasuke waited until Naruto was seated—being sure to mask his chakra—before turning the corner and plopping down beside him as he ordered.
"Miso ramen, please."
"I'll have the same." Sasuke said.
Naruto didn't look at him; he didn't even acknowledge him. He just flipped trough a few of the papers on the counter in front of him.
Sasuke didn't know how to start the conversation. He'd been a quiet, stoic bastard for the last twelve years of his twenty-year-old life. Now that he wanted to interact with someone, he wasn't really sure how to go about it.
"I've been trying to meet up with you, but I've been missing you." Sasuke blurted out lamely. Naruto said nothing, and showed no sign of having heard him. "I heard you're going to be Rokudaime soon. Congratulations on attaining your dream. I guess you got the villagers' respect."
"Hey." Sasuke smiled slightly as Naruto spoke, but it faded again as he realized the blond wasn't addressing him. "Can you please make my order to go, Teuchi-san?"
"Of course, Naruto." the old man who owned the stand said, giving Sasuke an apologetic look.
Wow, Sasuke thought with a wince. Is this how he felt all those years ago? Is this really how I treated him? How did it come to me trying to talk to him and him ignoring me? Sasuke noted that it hurt. It hurt a lot more than he'd realized when he was younger. Had he really made the blond feel like this every day? How horrid of him!
"Naruto, please. Just—talk to me!" Sasuke begged. He couldn't help it. He needed Naruto; he was an important friend. To be cast aside now, after everything they'd been through—Sasuke would be destroyed.
"Here you go, Naruto." Teuchi set a Styrofoam bowl with a lid on it in front of Naruto.
Without a word, the blond gathered his papers, stood up, took his bowl of ramen, and turned to walk out of the stand. Sasuke stared down into his own bowl, which had been placed before him when Naruto stood up to leave.
"You know, Sasuke," The raven whipped around as the blond spoke to him, but he noticed Naruto wasn't looking at him. He had his back to him. "If you wanted to keep my friendship so badly, then maybe you shouldn't have left." He began to walk away. "I have nothing more to say to you, so please don't look for me again."
That night, the last of the Uchihas took his own life, finding no purpose in living if his best friend deemed his crime so horrible he didn't even speak to him except to tell him so.
Everyone went to his funeral—except a certain blond-haired shinobi, who sat on the Fourth Hokage's head on the stone monuments. Truth be told, he couldn't care less that the bastard was gone.
After all, Sasuke only did what he wanted to do, right? So if Sasuke only cared about Sasuke, then Naruto didn't need to care about him.
Uchiha Sasuke was nothing more than a shadow of a person, locked away in the back of his mind, forever to remain a memory.
THE END.