Author's Note: This one-shot is dedicated to MunkieMagic for being my 150th reviewer for my story, "Ninja's They're Real? Apparently". I really hope they enjoy this!

Warnings: Shonen-ai build up. Mentions of violence and death. Nothing graphic.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto then Itachi wouldn't be dead and he would be fighting it out with Shikamaru to see who would be with Naruto.

PLEASE ENJOY!

What He Did

He woke me up,

He held me tight,

He fought for me,

And in the end,

He told me it was alright.

He woke me up.

I was drifting peacefully between dreams and reality when a sudden noise disturbed my doze. Irritated and hoping to find the source of the troublesome noise I looked up only to be blinded by the sun and its laughter.

When my eyes adjusted I realized that there wasn't some mini sun but a boy around my age causing a commotion in this otherwise perfectly tranquil field as he chased and then was chased by what looked like a wild fox. Despite my frustration at being disturbed I found that I couldn't take my eyes off him. They were transfixed as he quickly dashed across the field, seeming not to notice me sitting in the tallish grass, and as he ran into the forest on the other side. Only when I could no longer see or hear him my trance was broken and I lay back down to resume my nap.

Despite how much I tried though I couldn't fall back into my dreams the rest of the day. My head was too filled with the picture of an earthbound sun to fall back asleep. I had wondered how such a person had existed. Had they captured the sun one day and stayed that way? Or was there some quirk to their genetics as my dad had tried to explain the other day. I had a feeling it was the latter but it was nice to think that the sun could laugh like that.

Many afternoon naps had been ruined thinking about a laughing sun but soon I forgot all about him until I started the academy and he happened to be in my class. Whenever he would actually attend I could never fall back to sleep. He drew attention to him like no one I had ever met. It was as if he had sunshine in his personality as well even if I was the only one to ever notice it.

Every day he would have a smile on his face even if he didn't look like he should be very happy. I had always wondered if clouds would make him frown but it never seemed to happen. As time went on I gave up on my sun analogies but never on watching him. His presence was always too loud to ignore even when he himself was silent.

I spent my childhood going along with him, Chouji and Kiba. It was either that or sleep in class and I couldn't do that. He always woke me up.

He held me tight.

I had failed and my teammates almost had to pay the price. How could I look them in the eye knowing that if I had been a better leader, a better shinobi, this wouldn't have happened? That everything would have been okay. We wouldn't have failed and they wouldn't have been so grievously injured.

My fault. It's all my fault.

As time slowly crawls by and everyone had pulled through with a full chance of recovery the weight on my shoulders lifts marginally. I visit everyone in their room to apologize but they all understand and tell me if it hadn't been me it would have been someone else in my place. This doesn't lessen the guilty feeling of me not being able to do better.

I finally make my last stop and just stand outside the door, hesitant to enter. I hesitated because I knew of those I had failed today I had failed him the most. I had seen Naruto being brought in by Kakashi. He had a hole in his chest where his heart was located, where Sasuke had betrayed him in the worst possible way a person could betray someone like Naruto. He had looked so small and fragile. I was faintly surprised he survived but impossible things tended to happen when Naruto was involved.

I knocked and entered the room. I walked in and saw a smiling Naruto. The smile was bright and while most would see this as a positive sign to his recuperation I knew better. That smile was a fake and I knew then I hated seeing it one his face.

"How are you doing Naruto?"

"I'm doing great! Jiraiya-"

"Don't lie to me Naruto." I grabbed his shoulder as I cut off his animated reply. "I know you're pretending. It's troublesome to deal with so please for my sake don't."

His smile fell and he studied me for a moment. He was searching for something before he nodded to himself.

"You were always the smart one of us dead-lasts." He said softly as he looked down at his hands to hide the tears that were surely forming. It was a complete contradiction to what he had been just moments before.

"Troublesome." I sighed before sitting on the bed next to him. I opened my arms out in gesture to let him know if he wanted to he had a shoulder to cry on. He was my friend and I had let him down. It was the least I could offer since I knew no one else would think to. He was always alone so I doubted he had anyone to turn to in times such as this. I was a bit shocked though when he instantly clung to me. I could feel the tears he had been holding back and hiding from others soak through my shirt. He didn't make any noise as we sat there.

When he calmed down I decided to finally say what I came to say.

"I'm sorry I failed you and everyone else on the retrieval team. It's my fault everyone got hurt and the mission failed. If I had been better none of this would have happened." I couldn't look at him while I said this.

It was Naruto's turn to grab my shoulder and he made sure to look me dead in the eye when he said, "It's not your fault. You did everything and more than you could have done. If it weren't for you the others and I would have been dead before we ever had a chance at rescuing Sasuke. It's that Snake Bastard's fault and don't you forget it –ttebayo."

No one else had said that it wasn't my fault, that my best had been good enough, and that I hadn't almost killed my comrades but saved them. They had all told me to do better in the future and everything was fine in the end. Those sentiments had eased my guilt but it wasn't the same. Somehow Naruto knew exactly what I needed to hear and it was such a relief.

Without realizing it Naruto was returning my earlier gesture and though I wasn't sobbing from grief but tears of happiness and release it was exactly what I needed. As I let go of all the fear and guilt of the last few days that had been eating me away I relished in the embrace of the smaller boy. It was warm. It was so warm as he held me tight.

He fought for me.

I didn't like to fight in battles. I never really saw the point in revenge as it took too much energy to do something that would be so pointless in the end. I would rather be spending my time pursuing something I enjoyed than to be caught up in something that would only hurt me in the end. No, watching the clouds go by or if I was feeling energetic playing shogi or go with Asuma-sensei was how I would rather be spending my time. However I can't do that anymore. For the first time in my life I felt the need to fight to avenge Asuma-sensei's murder by those bastards from Akatsuki. So this once I would set aside everything I strived to do and be to fight with all my strength.

There were two of them and both were supposedly immortal. I knew no matter how much I would love to bring them both down with my bare hands it was impossible. They both needed to be taken down at the same time unless we risk one of them going back to their base for back up and the only way to do that was to separate them. We needed to divide and conquer. I knew this but still it killed me inside knowing that I had to leave part of this in the hands of others.

The fight with Kakuzu and Hidan was going poorly and I was relieved when I felt Naruto's chakra approaching as my own reserves were dwindling. When he arrived on the scene the impossible always became possible and so I didn't worry as much as I would have as I went to draw Hidan away and get rid of him. I trusted Naruto to handle Kakuzu and do what needed to be done. How could I not when I trusted him with my life?

In the last few months since his return from his training trip with Jiraiya we've become very close. It started with taking time to talk when we saw each other on the street to lunch if there was something nearby and now we made time to see each other at least once a week, missions permitting, to play Go and talk. I was surprised at his ability for the game but soon that surprise faded as I realized he truly was Konoha's Most Surprising Ninja.

Over that time our bond of friendship had grown deep and if I had just learned one thing about Naruto it was that he didn't like to fight too. He liked to spar and he enjoyed getting strong but if he the choice he would never fight. His compassion knew no bounds and he would raise his fists to protect, to defend, maybe even to reason with if no other option got through to someone but he would never raise a fist to fight for revenge. It wasn't who he was.

However, today he fought for me.

And in the end.

That idiot. That complete and total idiot. We tried out hardest to keep him away from the war. To keep him from getting captured by Madara. To keep him safe. And what does he do? He heads straight towards the problem!

Doesn't he see we're trying to protect him? That the plans I helped to create to try keep him safe are now in ruins because he just goes and does as his heart pleases! In a way I knew this would happen since it is Naruto but at least before I had some condolence in the fact that I knew he was safe. I'll admit he's much more powerful than me and pretty much everyone else on the field but I'm not the one being targeted. All this is to keep them away from him and now I worry what will happen.

As the battles go on I'm proven wrong once again about the blond. We needed him and he saved all of us. Without his help we would have all been long dead. As we head to the final battle I've never felt so powerful or safe wrapped in the chakra cloak he gave each of us. I distractedly noticed mine was a little larger than the rest but it must have just been a trick of the light. It didn't matter as the next moment I was fighting again and forgot the observation as unimportant.

With everything starting to culminate to the final battle broke out. Many times I would have died had Naruto's chakra hadn't been there shielding me. It was like I had him right there at my back fighting with me. Even as the battle died down the chakra stayed with me until we met up again. So in the end he was by my side.

He told me it was alright.

The war had ended many months ago and we were all still recovering and rebuilding. The damage hadn't been as bad as we had initially thought but the death toll was still much too high.

I sighed and pulled out a cigarette to calm my nerves. I had been doing that a lot lately. It was a troublesome habit but I felt justified. My home had been destroyed, I bore scars that would never fade but the worst was the people I had lost. I could rebuild a home and I would heal but I could never replace the people I cherished. I would never be able to fill the spot they had left in my heart. The only consolation I have was that they died as heroes protecting the future. The king had remained intact, their sacrifice wasn't in vain and for that I am grateful.

I made my way to the field I spent my childhood in just watching the clouds go by; those days when everything was carefree and beautiful. The field was luckily just far enough away from Konoha to have made it out of everything relatively unscathed. A few of the trees had been burnt down from burning debris landing on them but as time had gone on new trees had already started to grow where they had been and the grass had already grown over anyplace that might have been burnt in the actual field.

When I finally arrived I was surprised to find that not only was I not alone but the other person was in my favorite spot. I could tell at how the grass, which reached my knee, was bent. When I finally caught sight of the person I had to squint since the noon sun was illuminating them brightly enough to mistake them for a second sun. When my eyes adjusted I realized it was only Naruto who seemed to be enjoying a nap.

I sighed again as I walked loser. The noise I made apparently startled him awake as he jerked up in anticipation of a threat. The war had left us all changed and Naruto had become a little more jumpy than he had been previously. He relaxed immediately when he saw that it was only me and smiled.

"Shika-" Naruto started to greet.

"You're in my spot." His smile faded a bit.

"I can move if you want."

"No, it's too troublesome." I said fondly. His smile returned full force as I sat down right next to him. As I lay down to do my favorite activity I impulsively grabbed his hand and laced our fingers. Without looking for his reaction I asked, "Is that alright?"

I felt him lay back down as he held my hand tighter. The pressure was a welcoming sign.

"It's alright," he told me with a grin.

He always woke me up,

It was so warm as he held me,

However toady he fought for me,

So in the end he was by my side,

"It's alright," He told me with a grin,

So then I kissed him softly.

Author's Note: I didn't really edit this and I really jumped the gun on writing it so if something really seems out of place please let me know and I will definitely go back to fix it... I'll probably edit the whole thing in a few days anyways but I really want to post it now so yeah...

Please review! Reviewers get candied apples and lollipops!

Published: 4 May 2013

May the Fourth be with you.