Summary: When he was dark, he was a shade too dark. When he was alight, he was too bright. There was no medium. But, when they were together, they could attain that normal shade of gray. No set pairing.

Warnings: You could take this as implied SasuNaru/NaruSasu, but it's not a set couple or anything.

A/N: It's been a long time since I've updated anything, and that's mostly because I don't have internet and my computer wouldn't let me save to disks. But, ever since my friend TayloWolf came over, I figured out how to get my stories uploaded. So, this one is dedicated to my best friend, none other than the aforementioned TayloWolf. Thanks a ton!

I don't think there should be many, if any, mistakes in this, considering I've re-read it a thousand times, but you never know. Just tell me what you think.


Gray Sensations

Chapter One

Author: Alley-Oop


There was always something strange about Uchiha Sasuke. No one could ever tell what it was exactly, but there was always something just a tad bit off. When he was quiet, he was too quiet; when he talked, he didn't talk enough. But there was no medium with him. When he was dark, he was a shade too black; when he was light, he was never bright enough.

When his mask was on, it covered just a bit too much of his beautiful emotions. Yet, when it was off, those same emotions would scald your eyes with their intensity. There was no medium, no in-between.

Still, everyone searched so hard. They watched for that crack in his mask, they waited for the time when Sasuke would talk, and they waited to see the light that they knew burned inside of Sasuke. They watched and waited, trying to find what it was that would force him- a resistant clam- to open. They poked and pried, not realizing that each time they tried to find the crack in his mask, the mask became that much tougher. When they tried to glimpse the light, he became darker. When they tried to get him to talk, he soaked in even more silence.

But they never gave up, even when they knew it was a hopeless battle. They kept pushing until the Uchiha was driven away, until there was nothing left to him except for the silence, the darkness, and the mask.


There was always something strange about Uzumaki Naruto. No one could ever tell what it was exactly, but there was always something just a tad bit off. When he spoke, he spoke too loudly; when he was quiet, he was never quiet enough. But there was no medium with him. When he was alight, he was a shade too bright; when he was dark, he never seemed dark enough to quite fit in.

Yet, he and Sasuke wore the same masks, the only difference being the faces painted on.

People were always trying to find the flaws in Naruto, the things that he hid. They looked for that darkness in him, to help give them a reason to hate him. When they found nothing, though, they purposely tried to ignore him, to find that silence that he never allowed. They ignored him so often that, for the opposite reasons, his own mask became tougher.


There was always a change in Naruto and Sasuke when they were around each other. No one could ever tell what it was exactly, but there was always something different. When together, they were too fierce; when they were apart, they weren't quite fierce enough. When together, they reached that shade of gray that was in between their individual black and white; when apart, there was no medium with them.

They were each other's neutralizers. They cancelled each other out, and were able to attain that normal shade of gray that they always struggled and grasped for. When together, their masks slipped off, but Sasuke's emotions were not bright enough to douse Naruto's with light, and Naruto's emotions were not dark enough to swallow the light from Sasuke's. They were able to cling to that beautiful gray sensation.

When together, they could finally be normal…


A/N: Please review.