Author's Note: Just a quick 10-15 minute thing because I really needed to write something.

After all, it wasn’t like anyone, in the deepest most secret parts of their hearts, didn’t harbor hopes that rested on wishes. So, even when he muttered about not needing them, not needing to set his dreams in the palms of another whenever Sakura shifted the clasp of his necklace to the back or his neck or he was told to blow out his birthday candles by Konohamaru, Naruto tucked his wishes away. More precious than any skill he could have ever gained.

Because right now, wishes were perhaps the only thing he could rely on.

He didn’t feel like wasting them. Not on things he could easily change. He could become Hokage without the aid of the stars, could work for his village without flipping a coin into a fountain. Almost all of him was dead set against the idea, actually. Because he had spent too much of his life believing in himself in spite of everything that had fallen against him. He had lifted it all up, carried his burdens without making them anyone else’s.

Naruto had saved himself.

At least, that was what he had started to tell himself. When the days faded into weeks and those weeks strung together to form months that compiled years, he had to tell himself something. He couldn’t simply rely on the fact that it was Sasuke who had driven him this far. That it was only because of Sasuke he was standing here now, so close to having his biggest dream fulfilled.

Admitting that would only open the floodgates to things that he was still struggling to contain. You didn’t,. . .couldn’t become Hokage, or any real leader for that matter, when your heart was captivated by something else entirely. To think that the one person who had brought him this far would be the one to hold him back. It was almost pathetic, really.

He knew that much just from that looks he would catch from Sakura sometimes. Those looks she never thought he noticed. He didn’t hate her for that. In the end, he could only look back at himself. Maybe he still wasn’t strong enough. Maybe he was obsessed. But even acknowledging those facts didn’t change things. He still ran after Sasuke.

Pursuing the missing nin, though, was like chasing the shadow of a ghost. Naruto couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything there at all anymore. Or maybe just whispers of things that had been that sent him flying in one direction or another.

And somewhere along the way, those wishes had taken on a terrible importance. He just wasn’t enough. Not at this moment. Maybe never would be. Whatever it was, Sasuke still had not come back. He’d had nothing else. Naruto could only look back on those moments with a bitter resentment. It had never been a simple i I wish I may /i . He had begged.

Begged the stars for something, anything. Just bring him back. No mindless exchanges, no bribing a God he was fairly certain didn’t exist. It was a direct plea, a moment of heartbreak allowed to actualize. The stars he could see. . .and on nights spent in pursuit of a dying dream, he could only cast his eyes skyward and whisper of his darkest wants.

Whisper, and hope that somewhere in the chill and black, those words would be heard.