Sometimes, when he's alone, Sasuke plays pretend. He closes his eyes and rests the back of his head on the wall behind him, giving the not-so-far-off illusion that the lone Uchiha is asleep; his face is completely blank and calm, pink lips parted only slightly, and arms crossed and resting on his knees.

In this game, he pretends that Itachi really does love his little brother and the clan alike; that the older genius was there in the stands, with his parents, cheering him on in the Chuunin exams. There is no Orochimaru. There is no loneliness. Sasuke has friends, and he grows with these friends.

"Sasuke..."

His parents grow older as the little Uchiha moves into adulthood, marrying some nice girl in his clan, to keep it pure blood. Hinata is with Neji for exactly the same reason.

"Oh God, Sasuke..."

There is no Kyuubi. Naruto is loved and praised as the Yondaime's son, getting together with Sakura, who happily agrees to marry him.

"Please..."

Itachi and he and both of their wives attend all necessary weddings, and Itachi soon becomes the Uchiha clan's head.

"I'm sorry."

Everyone has beautiful children. There are no wars. There is no Akatsuki. Everything is wonderful and bright, as always, and Sasuke forgets he's playing pretend. He genuinely loves his wife and children, and he wouldn't give them up for the world.

"I love—"

There is no voice.

"Shh."

There is no happy world for Naruto: pretend nor real. His dreams are haunted as well as his life itself. Rock Lee has married Sakura, Hinata to Kiba, and Neji to TenTen. Itachi's body has finally been cremated, having been sloppily dragged through the rain with Sasuke on his way back to Konoha.

The older Uchiha's eyes had been gouged out, plenty of stab wounds—"Up to fifty in the upper abdomen."—and bruises adorning his battered body. Sasuke shared much of the same fate, though lacking the resulting fatality.

Sakura cannot have children.

Hinata died in child labor.

Neji and TenTen divorced mere months after marriage.

Naruto is alone.

Alone.

The appeal of the Hokage title is gone, but with a lack of replacement candidates, the blond grudgingly keeps the position.

Now, in times like these, when he has finished filing, signing, and looking through his mountain of paper work, he leaves the office and sits with Sasuke. The Uchiha is clad purely in white, his hair and eyes the only substantial difference between him and the padded walls.

Naruto does not participate in Sasuke's game, but instead spends his time pleading, crying for him to wake. He knows Sasuke does not hear him—That the Uchiha believes that he is alone in this outside world, if he even remembers it.

His rival has been like that since he returned to Konoha, not able to even talk as he dropped the scarred and bleeding body of his brother in front of the guards standing out before the village doors.

"Sasuke... Oh God, Sasuke..." Naruto runs his hand through the other man's spiked locks, caressing. There is no response.

"Please..." Here, the proud Hokage's head droops, jaw tightening in a futile attempt to choke back sobs and tears.

"I'm sorry...!"

He knows it's selfish, yet the Kyuubi container weeps not only for Sasuke, but himself. He is alone; having spent practically his entire life chasing after the missing nin, there had been time for neither love nor affection. It had all rested on Sasuke.

He ogled Sakura—She was married.

He adored Hinata—She was dead.

He loved Sasuke—He was... gone. Neither dead nor alive: present only physically as his mind wandered around the imaginary world the Uchiha had thought up.

"I love--!"

"Shh..."

A pause, lasting minutes, and Naruto stayed completely still. Hoping.

'Just a few minutes...'

There were times, and this was the reason they hadn't just dubbed him comatose and shoved him into a hospital bed, that Sasuke awoke. His eyes were grayed, and he would not speak, but he would watch Naruto as the blond grinned through tears. They would embrace, though it was more of the Uzumaki than anything, as Sasuke would only move his pale, trembling hands to the Hokage's shoulders in an attempt to separate them.

And it went exactly like that.

"I love you... Sasuke... God, I... I..."

He'd once been told, by someone who he couldn't remember for the life of him, that Sasuke did not speak merely because he wouldn't allow himself to acknowledge the real world. That would mean he'd have to leave his own behind; and, obviously, Sasuke was not ready to do that. Therefore, Naruto hugged his friend tightly and whispered lovingly into his ear, enjoying the way the raven twitched ticklishly.

He would wait for the day when the raven opens his eyes and whispers, returning the rough and awkward embrace; he would wait.

"...I have a wife."

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