A.N.: My summer vacation's being surprisingly productive. ;)

Also, some of you might have noticed that I changed the summary. No big deal, it's just that a friend of mine pointed out that drabbles were supposed to be 100-word long, and mine weren't, so, yeah.

Words: 582

Title: The game is over

Summary: A dead man’s indulgence.

#10 The game is over

[Remember, Naruto, nothing you’ll be seeing is real.]

Replying Jiraya’s teachings in his mind wasn’t doing him any good. He knew that any of that was real. He knew he hadn’t lost his limbs’ sensibility, he could still feel them. He just couldn’t move them.

“I merely want to talk to you, Naruto-kun,”

He couldn’t talk either. But he could still scowl and glare.

[When facing an Uchiha alone, you better run.]

Yeah, well, remembering Chiyo-baa’s words wouldn’t help him either. He couldn’t run.

He watched his enemy close the distance between them in short, confident steps; his face a blank and unreadable mask. Naruto felt his heartbeat speed up as the man inched closer to his motionless body. He would’ve given the world to just take one step back, away from him.

“Remember this very carefully,” he said in a voice that matched his face. If he could speak, Naruto would tell him exactly what he’d like him to do.

Itachi stopped just right in front of him. He could feel their feet touching, and their breaths mingling. He could see how intensely he was being watched by his red, ever moving eyes. He leaned in; hot air hovering his ear.

Naruto’s heartbeat skipped the beat; too fast for him to keep track. He was sure that if Itachi didn’t kill him right now, the stress alone would do the trick.

“I need you to deliver a message to my brother,”

[There’s a man I need to kill.]

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto was aware of how wide his eyes grew when Itachi pulled back from over his shoulder to stare at him from right in front of his nose. Too close for his liking.

He shivered inwardly.

Red eyes stopped dead for a second, just a second. And began to work backwards. Like the rewinding motion on a tape recorder.

Inch by inch, his face slid to one side, coming forth; leaning in. Out the corner of his eyes he could see one of Itachi’s hands reach the back of his neck and hold on – painfully so. Red, spinning eyes were open when their lips met. Cold and hard and uncertain lips that pressed against his as if asking; as if begging. The hand on the back of his neck rubbed and squeezed a bit too harshly, almost desperately.

He pulled back just enough to speak again; his fingernails digging into the base of his head. “I need you to tell him—” he muttered silently against his lips, hesitating in the last word, letting it linger a little longer.

Suddenly, Naruto felt his body move in its own accord. It took him a minute to understand that it was Itachi who was controlling his arms and making them encircle his torso in rigid, mechanic movements.

His eyes meet Itachi’s for the briefest moment. What are you doing, he wanted to ask. But Itachi didn’t seem to know either, because he leaned in again, breaking eye contact.

“Tell him,” he whispered, his lips tracing the words on Naruto’s, marking them with his words. “To go on,”

Then he was kissing him. Weird and hesitant and hard. The hand on the back of his head smashing their faces together; locking lips painfully. Naruto didn’t know what to do, so he just kissed him back. His arms tightening around Itachi finally under his command; his finger curling on Itachi’s back.

[It’s not real.]

Naruto blinked and everything was gone.

.-.-.-.