A/N: Mah, SO sorry this took so long to pump out. This is for the wonderful ColorsOver, for being the 100th (I think) reviewer to ITTLIG! I think this is one of the best things I've written thus far, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: Sadly I don't, never have and never will, own Naruto.

Two figures stood on the bridge patiently waiting; or not so patiently if you noticed the constant fidgeting, arguing, and altogether anything that screams impatient. The first one, a short blonde boy, was currently watching a group of crows scatter from their perch, deep in the woods, with a brilliant smile on his face. The other, a pink-haired girl, was staring up at the overcast sky, worrying over their missing teammate, who was never late even if he was deathly ill. Not that he ever got sick, but that is not the point.

The two had been sitting in relative silence, surprisingly, as the blonde was known as a loudmouth, until their sensei poofed into existence just a few meters away. They erupted into noise, accusing the elder of being two hours late before he could even give them a lame excuse.

The man, Kakashi, just smiled sheepishly, or what one could assume was a smile, as his face was almost completely covered. He noticed that he was missing one genin, and the smile dropped slowly. "Where's Sasuke?"

Now, Kakashi wasn't one to care much, it just wasn't in his nature to get attached, but he knew the significance of this day to the black cat of Team 7, and was as worried as he could get over his student.

"We don't know!" Sakura wailed. "He hasn't shown up, and he is never late! What do we do?!"

But just as Naruto was going to put his two cents in, a dark-haired pale boy walked up, not from the direction of his city apartment. To the untrained eye, he would look perfectly normal, all cool and emotionless, but under the critical eyes of his male teammates, Sasuke looked different. Sakura, bless her soul, was blissfully unaware of the slight tension around his shoulders, and the glimmer of something swimming in the depths of his eyes. Naruto, though usually an idiot, wasn't so much of one as to not notice the subtle changes in his bestfriend-slash-rival.

His three teammates looked towards Sasuke expecting an explanation as to why he was two hours late, and after a moments pause, he answered that he, "was busy," and left it at that.

As they began training, that all noticed a change in the normally stoic boy's demeanor. He was especially quick to anger, because he would usually not rise to the bait Naruto sets out, but after one jab too many, he took out the resulting anger an the back of Naruto's skull. The punch had enough pent-up pure rage that it pushed the boy off his feet and sailing thirty feet through the air, landing with a face full of dirt. Sasuke, still twitching in anger, turned on his heel and stalked out of the training grounds, moving quickly in his irate gait.

The grounds were silent, not even a bird chirping, as they stared at the receding back of their irate teammate. Naruto soon regained his composure and flew to his feet, righteously angry. "What the hell was that for?! I'mma go give that bastard a piece of my mind!"

He was stopped, however, by a hand on his shoulder. He looked questioningly up to the face of his sensei, waiting for an answer. "Give him a few to cool off, then you can go talk to him, nicely," Kakashi added after the boy scowled. "You were in the wrong with that last comment; it wasn't called for."

Naruto pouted, but complied and sat down to wait. Barely twenty minutes later and his patients were completely gone. He got to his feet and ran off towards where Sasuke had disappeared soon before.

Kakashi turned to Sakura with a sigh. "You might as well just go home. I doubt we'll get anymore training done today."

Sakura hesitated, torn between listening to her sensei and going after Sasuke herself. Kakashi, sensing her indecision, gave a fake smile and waved her off. "I'll go and check on them soon. I'm sure Sasuke is fine. Just go home and get some rest; early mission in the morning!"

Sakura sighed, defeated, and with one last wistful look towards where Sasuke was, she headed home.

Kakashi let his smile drop as he pulled his book out from his pocket. He looked towards where the boys had disappeared to, then waved his hand in dismissal. "They'll be fine. Probably won't kill each other… Hmm…" his gaze shifted towards the village interior. "I wonder what Iruka is up to?" he said as he poofed away, head in his book.

Naruto huffed as Sasuke's chakra trail led him deeper into the forest, along a barely noticeable, but obvious path, when looked.

Of all the Naruto expected to see when he finally caught up with the moody Uchiha, the scene that met him was not it. He had come up upon a small graveyard, with at least thirty headstones sticking up proudly from the well-kept ground. Sasuke knelt, head bowed, in front of the tallest stone.

Naruto, being as quiet as he could, creeped over to look at the names:

Here lies Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha
Loving parents of two, proud shinobi, and successful clan heads

Following the names were birthdays and the same death date. 'But wait…date? Isn't that today?' Naruto's eyes widened in realization, and he tried to back away as quietly as he could, but tripped over a headstone causing Sasuke to twitch at the noise. He hadn't noticed another presence, but now that he was back to reality, Sasuke felt the overbearing presence of Naruto.

"Leave, now," he said, not even turning around. Naruto, previously struggling, paused at the emotion in the emotionless boy's voice. He had never heard anything other than anger, annoyance, or mocking arrogance in Sasuke's voice, so the poorly hidden grief and sadness was surprising, to say the least. Truth be told that scared him more than anything the other boy had ever shown did.

Trying to ignore the way he was feeling, Naruto countered, "No way! You don't just punch someone and stalk off without apologizing!" He then felt the urge to see Sasuke's face, see if it held as much emotion as his voice.

Just barely a whisper, just as shocking as everything else had been today, a word floated from the kneeling boy and caught a breeze to flit it away. "Please."

Naruto's body moved over on it's own accord and sat beside Sasuke, who was still as stone, staring at the grave in front them. He was afraid his heart would stop from the shock he had endured today, and it just kept coming. He was shocked to see silent rivulets of tears falling from eyes that never held such grief.

However awkward it was, this was his best friend in so much pain, so Naruto did the only thing he could think of. He scooted closer to the still crying boy and begun rubbing comforting circles on his back. At first, as expected, Sasuke tensed up and glared hatefully at the blonde, who was sufficiently ignoring him, but then gave up and dropped his head into his waiting hands.

After only a few minutes of this, Sasuke did something that more surprising to Naruto than anything else today. He had let his neck loosen and leaned his head on the other's shoulder; eyes still closed, tears still falling.

Slowly, and ever so quietly, like trying to ease a bird from flight, Naruto asked what he really wanted to know, "Who are they, those buried here?"

Minutes of silence passed and when Naruto was sure he had been ignored, he received an answer, responded just as quietly as asked. "My parents." He then waved a weak, vague, hand towards the other stones. "Aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins. Everyone."

Naruto moved his head slightly to look at the tombstone beside them. Same date as today. The ones in the rest of the rows: same as today's. He had heard rumors years ago, about them all being gone, but he thought it was just that: a rumor. Because seriously, what where the chances of them all dying?

That was when Naruto noticed something on every headstone. Just on top of each was a single white lily, all except the one before them. That one had entire bouquet placed elegantly before it. He noticed they were all meticulously taken after, not a single weed or leaf out of place.

They stayed there, Sasuke with his eyes closed and head still resting on Naruto, and Naruto quiet and continually comforting, for what seemed like hours. Neither moving, neither talking, just enjoying the comfortable silence.

But all too soon, they noticed the cooling atmosphere and setting sun. Sasuke pulled his head from the blonde's shoulder, somewhat reluctantly (not that he'd ever admit to it), and rose his gaze to the darkening sky. "You should get home. It'll be dark soon," he said, more calm and controlled than the last time he spoke.

Naruto nodded and stood, stretching the kinks from his sleeping feet and aching back. "Alright," he said with a smile. "Goodnight… Sasuke." He turned to the path and raised a hand over his shoulder in a wave goodbye.

"Goodnight, Naruto," Sasuke said quietly. Louder, "Oh, and Naruto? Tell anyone what you witnessed here and I'll personally skin you alive."

"Heh-heh," he looked over his shoulder, grinning sheepishly. "My lips are sealed."

In the days that followed, Naruto noticed that Sasuke didn't try to start any fights, and his insults had little to no bite, akin to a term of endearment from the socially inept boy. Naruto figured that the change in behavior directed toward him was the Uchiha's way of saying "thank you".

"Your welcome, Sasuke. Your welcome."

FIN