Darkness. And silence. The absolute nothingness felt somehow comfortable. But that comfort was gently taken away to be replaced by an even more comforting voice. The voice was soft, familiar, tender. Sasuke liked that voice.

"You know, Sasuke... Let's go pick chestnuts."

"Let's go to places that no one went before... We'll pick chestnuts and eat persimmons together. We'll run like crazy down the hill... roll in the giant leaf piles... and maybe get yelled at by grown-ups when we come back near sunset, all dirty. Wouldn't it be really fun? Let's go everywhere together..."

"Right? Let's go for sure... Sasuke..."

It was raining. Warm liquid dripped into his hand. Rain was warm? But it did not matter, because he was dead now. And Naruto was crying for him. He was scared that no one will cry for him in his death, but Naruto was crying for him... Sasuke felt happy.

"You... moron... We're supposed to go together... remember?"

Naruto kneeled over the hospital bed that held Sasuke's broken body, tears freely escaping his eyelids. He clutched Sasuke's hand as he silently cried. His words were broken by sobs.

"You promised. You said you'll never hate me, that you'll always be my friend. You liar. You liar!"

"You didn't care even when I acted like I like Sakura-chan. Weren't you jealous? Didn't you care? But... you liked me, didn't you? I don't understand! You act like you hate me, then you go and die for me! What are you trying to prove here?"

"Did you forget everything...? Sasuke..." Naruto kneeled over to lightly kiss Sasuke's unresponsive lips. His own tears wet Sasuke's eyelids. It looked like Sasuke was crying. Naruto cried harder. "Stupid... Arrogant asshole... Octopus-head... Like you... I like you... I like you, Uchiha Sasuke! You idiot liar!"

Naruto gasped as a hand firmly pushed down his head to meet Sasuke's lips again. Sasuke's lips gently kissed his lips, and Naruto stared as Sasuke's eyes slowly opened to reveal two blood-colored eyes.

"...who are you... calling... octopus-head... You dimwit...?"

Naruto hit Sasuke's head as he laughed and cried at the same time. "Who else... Octopus..."

Sasuke closed his eyes, tired but content. A thought occurred to him. "Let's go as soon as they're ripe."

"... what?"

"Let's go pick those chestnuts as soon as they're ripe..."

"... Sounds fun to me," Naruto managed to choke out. Sasuke felt Naruto's body tightly hugging his as Naruto slowly repeated himself. "That sounds fun..."

The chestnuts were encased in prickly covering, and it was painful if one was not careful with them. Sasuke held down the edge of the needle with tip of his shoes as he maneuvered his other foot to peel off the sharp encasing off of delicious seeds inside. As he stepped down on the other side of the casing and the smooth chestnuts popped out, Sasuke kneeled down to pick the chestnuts up.

"...aw aw aw ouch!"

Sasuke sighed as he dusted off the chestnuts and examined the surface for any wormholes. All had smooth, sleek surface, and were heavy with ripe fruit within. Satisfied, Sasuke placed the seeds within small pouch he had brought and finally turned his eyes to look at what Naruto did to himself.

Naruto held up his hands, howling. His hands were covered with needles. It vaguely reminded Sasuke of Naruto's hands when he had been attacked by a porcupine. Sasuke's sigh grew heavier and a 'dimwit' was muttered under his breath as he walked up to Naruto and started to remove the needles. Naruto sniffled as he watched Sasuke. "The... the chestnuts are conspiring against me!" Naruto wailed. Sasuke jerked a needle loose from Naruto's hand.

"...Dunce... Did you consider the possibility that the needles on the casing of the chestnuts are not for a decoration?"

"I was really careful! Are you saying I was not being careful?"

"That is essentially what I am accusing you of."

Naruto did the most mature and sensible he could think of doing to Sasuke at that moment. He stuck his tongue out. Sasuke ignored him. The last needle was removed with a small plopping sound, and Naruto flinched slightly, but did not pull away. Sasuke critically examined the wound, then pulled out a wad of bandage from his pants pocket and started to wrap the bandage around the fingers. He released Naruto's hands as he peered into Naruto's pouch, which was surprisingly full of chestnuts.

"...Naruto, please tell me those chestnuts did not come straight from the ground."

"Why? Is that bad?"

"... there is more possibility that they are rotten or worm-eaten."

"... oh well! I did think it might be bad, 'cause Sasuke was only taking ones that were still in their cases, but... When I tried to take them out of the casing, I hurt my hand! The chestnuts don't like me! I will eat them all, the evil creatures!"

Sasuke smiled slightly and shook his head. "I think we should go for the persimmons. More safe for your fingers..."

Naruto nodded, and took Sasuke's hand. Sasuke was surprised with this gesture, but he did not say anything. Naruto solemnly regarded Sasuke's hand that he was holding, then looked up at Sasuke. He smiled slightly.

"Was it hard?"

"What?"

"Chidori(thousand birds). Was it hard to learn?"

"...I'm sure kuchiyose no jutsu(summoning spell) was harder to learn, since it requires so much chakra. I need to be a lot stronger before I can get to such an advanced level."

"It's the kyuubi's chakra, not mine. Sasuke's strength is all his own strength."

Sasuke did not reply. He could not say anything, because he did not understand. He was sure that it took a lot of strength for Naruto to be able to control the kyuubi, but to what extent? How much of Naruto's own strength was used?

Naruto broke into Sasuke's musings as he tightened his hold on Sasuke's hand. "You know. We might not make it out alive."

Sasuke nodded. His brother was back. Orochimaru was not dead. There were dangers lurking everywhere that could easily claim their lives. They might not make it to see tomorrow's sunlight. Such was fate of a shinobi(warrior).

"It'll be great if we can die together, right? Because we're best friends!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. Naruto was the last person whom he thought to be aware of the looming death, but... Naruto was not a child anymore. They had discussed this. Naruto could take care of himself. Sasuke could be more honest to his feelings. Hurting Naruto by lying did not protect Naruto. But for Naruto to discuss death like this...

Sasuke nodded. "If I fail to protect you, I will do a sefuku (ritual suicide)."

"Aw, Sasuke! I told you not to talk like that! Who does that one of these days, anyway? You talk like an old man." Despite the cheerful words, Naruto's words faltered towards the end of the sentence. Naruto turned to Sasuke and released his hold on Sasuke's hand. He instead embraced Sasuke. Sasuke held Naruto as silence of the forest settled around them. Naruto lifted his head again, smiling through his tears.

"...sorry."

Sasuke shook his head and wiped Naruto's tears away. He silently pointed his finger to a tree in front of them. Naruto instantly brightened as he noticed the persimmon tree around them. As Naruto expertly climbed a tree to pick ripe fruits, Sasuke leaned against the tree to skin a chestnut. The kunai was surprisingly useful in skinning the tough wooden skin. As soon as Naruto came down, Sasuke popped the chestnut into Naruto's mouth. As Naruto adjusted the persimmons gathered in his shirt, he slowly chewed the raw flesh of the seed.

"It's sweet," Naruto said, pleased. Sasuke nodded, taking a persimmon from Naruto and breaking the skin to eat the soft sweet flesh inside. They sat down under the persimmon tree, sharing the fruits as they watched the setting sun.

"If I fall down, or get lost... Help me up, Sasuke." Naruto said, smiling as he broke the silence. His face glowed golden as the sun brilliantly lit up everything. Naruto, once again, looked like an angel. Sasuke wondered if he looked like an angel, too.

"If you would do the same for me," Sasuke said, using his free hand to ruffle up Naruto's hair. Naruto shook his head to return his hair into its original messy form, then leaned against Sasuke's shoulder. A content smile graced his lips.

"Of course I will... Because... If I'm with you, I forget about my pains. I remember that someone is here for me, that I can be strong... Just watch; I will get my dream with my own two hands!"

Owari

"Octopus" is a pretty heavy insult among children, as stupid as it may sound. My Grandma had chestnut and persimmon trees on her orchard, and I used get my finger full of chestnut thorns. ^^;; I suddenly have an urge to eat persimmons...

Uwaaa! It finally finished! I actually finished this fan fiction a long time ago, but editing it to make it presentable took quite a while. ;P It's still crappy, but oh well...!

I thank you from the bottom of my heart, everyone who read this fan fiction. Please be as kind to "Manazashi wa Eien ni". And... I hope to meet you again. *bows*

1/19/2004, version 2

There was this scene where Sasuke and Naruto were singing "Kanashimi wo Yasashisa ni" together, but I cut that out. It didn't seem to fit well within the story; I was just obsessed with that song at that time and wanted to use it. (Stupid Shiro, what were you thinking?) I really wanted to make this story a lot better, but in the end, the edits didn't make much change. ^^;; Now that I read this over again, it's really embarrassing! What a bad writing! _ I'll work harder to become a better writer, so please be kind to "Ano Toki no Boku-ra wa" as well.