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A matter of dreams, part II

Dead. Naruto was dead. It still surprised Sasuke how hard was being to process that simple fact. The death of the dobe had been his goal from the beginning. His dead represented the elimination of the last obstacle between Sasuke and the revolution that would lead to a new order, a better world where the corruption, politics, and hierarchy from the old one wouldn't have a place.

And now he had succeeded. Naruto was dead and he could proceed with his plan. There wasn't anything or anyone else able to stop him. The only thing that was preventing Sasuke from acting was himself. He and those... feelings. Those uncomfortable feelings writhing in his gut and making him feel… What? Guilty? Regretful?

Sasuke didn't have time for that sort of feelings. They were only a waste of time and worse yet, they led to nothing. What was done was done. Now it was time to move on. He still had a job to do, after all.

"Before I go… I'm trusting you my dream."

You have to carry on for me.

The young ninja closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, breathing deeply.

It was those stupid words. They had pursued him since the dobe… since Naruto's death, refusing to leave him in peace and tormenting him restlessly. Sasuke heard his words ringing in his ears every single second of every day, and when he had given up running and finally fell slept, they followed him into his dreams too. And that was worse, much worse, because in his dreams Sasuke was able to see Narutos' face while he was dying, in addition to listening to his voice.

"You are my dream, Sasuke. My first and most precious dream."

"Before I go… I'm trusting you…"

"I'm trusting you…"

"Damn it!" he cursed to no one in particular.

He was alone in an unknown forest, without any direction in mind, and in a very weakened state. His last fight with Naruto had left him wounded and deprived of chakra, and after spending two days running tirelessly and without supplies, his health was becoming a danger to his life.

He was exhausted; every new step his legs took was a torment. And yet, Sasuke kept pushing himself forward. He didn't know if he was being followed, but he knew that if a jounin found him now his possibilities to endure a fight were near to zero.

No mattered. If Sasuke wanted a chance to survive he needed to stop now, and find some food and a suitable shelter where he could rest until his wounds were healed. It was a forest. I shouldn't be too difficult.

He found a shelter, an old cave hidden on a mountain cliff, though he hadn't been able to get any food. It was as if all animals had vanished from the forest at the start of the war. He tried to get some sleep, but just as it had happened before, a face with blue eyes and bright blonde hair came to meet him the instant he dropped his eyelids.

The face moved his lips as if to say something, but at the end it was only able to cough and spit blood before closing its eyes forever.

"Naruto…" Sasuke sighed, frustrated. "Damned you, Naruto!"

So...

Perhaps he was feeling guilty. Sasuke had never wished to kill him, not really. It was just something he had to do in order to achieve his dream. And he had never imagined the loser would let himself be killed. If he had known…

Well... Proably in that case Sasuke would have lowered his chidori before hurting him badly, and then he would've beaten the shit out of him until the dobe agreed to fight him fairly.

"I could never be happy in a world where you aren't."

He was so tired…

And Naruto was so stubborn, always had been. Sasuke never stood a chance to change his mind, even he knew that.

Sasuke coughed a little, resting his back against the wall of the cave, and immediately he was hit by a sharp pain in his chest; some broken ribs, no doubt. And the cut in his thigh from the previous fight with that bitch Kaguya had started to blood again. Overall it wasn't good. It wasn't good at all.

He remembered how he had been forced to retreat, after the Infinite Tsukuyomi's victims started to wake up and after Naruto breathed his last breath. Sasuke had been paralyzed by Naruto's last words. It had been as if suddenly his lungs forgot how to breathe and his brain was left in blank. He had been frozen.

He had needed all his will to wake up from the trance and let go his hold on the body, leaving him (it) behind and disappearing before any survivors arrived to the scene and jumped to his own conclusions.

Naruto was dead.

That sentence rang in his ears over and over again.

He was dead.

He had died by his hand, for him, instead of him.

After all the pain Sasuke had caused him, after all the years ignoring his attempts to bring him home, after threating and laughing at his words of friendship, he had still cared enough to sacrifice his dreams for Sasuke, crazy enough to actually give up his life.

And he had died smiling.

"I'm thankful, Sasuke… I'm happy, it's you with me at the end."

Sasuke was a complete bastard. He had always known it, that was true, but he hadn't given a shit. He had never cared, and for sure, he had never hated himself for it.

Up to that moment.

"Promise me, Sasuke."

"Promise… me."

Naruto had begged him, and he had being dying. So Sasuke had promised, though he didn't even know what was he promising at that time.

He couldn't die. Naruto couldn't die; he was too full of life to leave the world this way. Sasuke closed his eyes for a second and prayed: "please, not this way".

He had also asked him the idiot preserve his strength; surely Sakura couldn't be very far and once she arrived she'd be able to save him. They were words to deaf ears. Naruto knew his chakra was necessary to awake the people trapped in the Eternal Tsukuyomi, and he wouldn't risk dying before doing precisely that, no matter that the effort from said technic would kill him without a doubt in his current weakened state.

Dobe.

"I'm thankful, Sasuke… I'm happy, it's you with me at the end."

"I could never be happy in a world where you aren't."

"You are my dream, Sasuke. My first and most precious dream."

For the first time in a very long way, Sasuke was lost at what to do. How should he proceed from here? Should he honor that last promise? Should he forget about him and carry on as he had intended?

There were too many questions, and Sasuke was too tired and felt too weak to look for a proper answer. He knew what he wanted, but now it was too late to do something about it.

Wasn't it the paradox of his life?

He let his eyelids fell, and tried to empty his mind of any thought. Life was currently a nightmare, but the little Sasuke inside of him still had hope that when he woke up, the last ten years of his life would turn to be nothing but a bad dream, a cruel joke of his imagination, and okasan and tousan and Itachi nii-san would be there to welcome him in the morning, and Naruto would still be alive, as hyperactive and knucklehead as ever.

He let his eyelids fell, and tried to empty his mind of any thought. Life was currently a nightmare, but the little Sasuke inside of him still had hope that when he woke up, the last ten years of his life would turn to be nothing but a bad dream, a cruel joke of his imagination, and okasan and tousan and Itachi nii-san would be there to welcome him in the morning, and Naruto would still be alive, as hyperactive and knucklehead as ever.

A blond whirlwind of pure emotion who wouldn't let anything or anyone stop him and who would search for Sasuke and gift him his precious smile.