Justified

"It is easier to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all."

It is easier to lose something if you never knew what you had lost in the first place. It is easier to miss someone if you had never really known them. It is no trouble to forget that brand new book, that one you had just picked out at random, because it never interested you much anyway. That book, it was simply to fill up those dusty bookshelves. That person, they were only an acquaintance to make time crawl by a little faster.

That is why Sasuke thinks he's got it worse. Surely, surely it is harder for him, he who had it all and lost it all. Now take Naruto, well, he never had anything to begin with – he doesn't know what he's missing, what he's even pining for. This makes Sasuke furious. He never had anything in the first place!

So how could Naruto possibly understand that pain, the pain that came with the sight of his brother, those eyes, that knife, his parents, their blood? How could he – how dare he – think that he understands the loss of a family? This pain, their pain, is too different.

That is what Sasuke tells himself as he lays there – dying, he's sure that's what it is – with needles adorning his limbs and blood gracing his lips. He thinks of life and death and newborn infants - they have it so much better, though it's a shame, such a shame, but at least they never even knew they were even alive. Him, he's lived, at least somewhat. Surely he had been living before that day? Sasuke knows what he's going to be missing out on; life in the broad sense of the term. He knows he will never accomplish his life's mission. He knows that if he dies its goodbye sunshine and goodbye vengeance and goodbye sore, arduous, wonderful aching of muscles after sparring with Naruto -

Well, he tries not to dwell too much on that last one. But that is what he tells himself as he sits on the branch of the tree, looking at the hospital roof, at the destruction Naruto had caused. At the power Naruto has proven he harbors. At Naruto's attempt to keep him here. Sasuke doesn't push away his jealousy, his indigence, but instead feeds it to his fire to keep himself warm. How could Naruto? How dare Naruto? Doesn't he see Sasuke needs this power?

He has it much, much worse. His pain, it's far greater. He knows what has been lost, and it's not an acquaintance, and it's certainly not a book.

Therefore, he has every right to do this.

This is what he tells himself. This is what he wishes he actually believed as he limps away, leaving Naruto beaten, soaked and unconscious back at the valley where they ended everything.