AN: Alright first off I absolutely had to write this story because of the song, "Don't Say Goodbye" by the band Skillet. Why? Because it positively screams SasuNaru! Lets just say I listened to this song about 50 plus times and I'm still listening to it for inspiration as I write. I know I have a million other incomplete stories but good news! I've got a lot of inspirations lately wish me luck to conquer the monster known as writers block! -puppy dog eyes- please don't abandon me!

Side note: the prologue is before the time-skip occurs and quite obviously right after the failed retrieval of Sasuke.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does; believe me if I owned it Sasuke would have taken Naruto with him when he left for Oto and screwed him senseless!

Warnings: Shounen-ai, Yaoi, Sakura bashing, slight kakashi bashing

Pairings: Future SasuNaru, KakaIru, JiraiyaTsunade, Slight GaaNaru, SaiNaru, and ShikaNaru

Tan limbs clung desperately to thin scratchy hospital sheets, the kind that you desperately wished to throw off but couldn't because you would be freezing otherwise.

Sneezing at the pungent sterile smell of spray cleaners that stung at his nose like jagged knives, he clenched his eyes closed tightly making blond tresses fall lazily into his face. Instinctively he wished that the sound of the door creaking open, and the hushed tones that had begun filtering into the room were just his med-induced fogged imagination playing tricks on him.

"Haruno I won't let you into that room no matter how much you bat your pretty blood shot weepy jade eyes at me." Tsunade snapped.

"But I have to see him Hokage-sama! He didn't…he didn't bring Sasuke-kun home! Naruto promised he would…he promised…" Came the soft desperate, hysterical voice that he knew could only belong to Sakura.

"That's enough god damn drama out of you!" Amber eyes flashed dangerously.

"Don't you see how hard this must have been on the stubborn ass gaki? To not have had the strength to help his best friend…to not have been strong enough to bring back the damned Uchiha? Stop being so fucking selfish and start caring about the remaining team mate you have left." Growled out the blond Sennin.

"But…he…" Hiccups issue from Sakura's mouth before she abruptly gave up the argument and ran off down the hall weaving in and out of passing disgruntled and confused patients and nurses.

Tsunade sighed forlornly as she leaned against the grey white door frame of Naruto's room.

Her hands were tightly balled at her sides, as a familiar ebbing pain rushed over her like a curtain.

Eyes clenched shut in remembrance of losing Orochimaru an anguished look pulled at the edges of her lips.

"Poor gaki, hasn't he suffered enough yet..?" She whispered softly before collecting herself.

After a moment she then quietly closed the door and with a final maternal glance behind her she too disappeared down the hall.

More awake now then before the arguing voices interrupted his half hearted attempt at sleep, Naruto found himself trying to remember how to breathe properly through the tears.

He knew the words Sakura spoke were true more than anyone.

Cheerfully and stubbornly he had promised on his nindo he would bring him back.

Shivering convulsions rocked his frame as the soft breathy sobs escaped him.

This was punishment, he knew that very well.

For his failure, for the weakness of not being able to keep his two very precious and important promises.

The first having been to Sakura, the second one he had mentally and verbally made to Sasuke.

But he guessed this was what he rightfully deserved.

This horrid painful heat of longing, the gnawing loneliness that coiled like a snake in his stomach, and the stabbing agony that nearly engulfed his whole chest.

After all these feelings were all he had left of Sasuke besides his discarded hitai-ate...