Chapter 8
Friendship

Blood. I see blood.

My hand. It’s poisoned.

Blood…

I’m scared. I can’t move…

“Are you alright, scaredy-cat?”

Anger.

Blood… on my hand.

“I swear, I will never need help from anyone anymore!”

“Dobe”

“Idiot”

“Usuratonkachi”

“Sasuke-teme!”

“Don’t insult Sasuke-kun! It’s your fault!”

“Sorry, Naruto, I didn’t know your hand was poisoned”

What? Why? Where am I? Why do I feel so bad? Why don’t they accept me? Why doesn’t he acc-

“Naruto!”

“I don’t want to be friends with you anymore!”

Such a cold voice… Why?

“Naruto, wake up!”

He opened his eyes. Sakura was wearing a worried expression on her face.

“Wha…?”

She handed him a glass of water. He gulped it down immediately. He didn’t know he was thirsty.

“I knocked several times but you didn’t hear, so I used a spare key, you gave me, and when I entered the room you were mumbling and sobbing… I was just worried…” she said after Naruto put the glass on his bedside table.

“Oh… well, I just had a bad dream”

“Yeah, I figured”

He looked into her eyes. He liked this green colour surrounding a dot of black. She smiled, mesmerizing Naruto for a second before he smiled too, but not fully out of his adoring-Sakura stupor. Her hair was so beautiful, her nose was so beautiful, her neck… well, everything about her was so… well, delicate and vulnerable.

“So… uhm… are we going to the training grounds today?” he managed finally.

Sakura seemed to be in her own stupor too, so only when she heard Naruto say something had she finally snapped out of it.

“Uh, what did you say?”

“We’re going to the training, right?” Naruto said.

“Oh, oh yeah, yeah we are. Uh, Kakashi and Sai are not going to be there today, because they have missions right now, but I think we could train without them…”

“Is Sasuke gonna be there? I have a lot to discuss with him”

“Well, yeah, he’s going to be there too. What are you going to discuss with him, huh, Naruto?”

Naruto blushed and looked away.

“Well, stuff… uhm, like something that I, uh, can’t discuss with a girl…”

Sakura looked puzzled. She couldn’t figure out what could be so much of a secret, that he couldn’t trust Sakura to help him with? And then it hit her: Naruto is 16 and a half years old. Oh…

“Saaaaaaaasukeeeeeeeeeee!”

A sigh.

“What?” angrily.

“Wait up!”

Another sigh.

“What do you want? The training is over, dobe!”

“Don’t call me dobe, TEME! I know the training is over, I’m not deaf, I heard when you said it the first time, it’s just that I wanted to talk to you!” Naruto suddenly looked self-conscious.

“Fine, what did you want to talk about?”

“Did I become stronger since the first time we started training?”

Sasuke blinked. This was definitely not what Naruto wanted to talk about, but he was stretching the time.

“Yes, you became stronger”

“Am I stronger than Sakura now?”

“Yes, you are”

“Am I as strong as you are?”

Sasuke opened his mouth to say no, but then shut it. That was always an unanswered question. Dobe seemed so weak and stupid, but in the battle he would become clever and strong out of the blue. Sasuke didn’t know anymore if he was stronger than Naruto or weaker. He was confused.

“What did you want to talk about?”

Naruto turned red for some unknown reason and then slowly started “Um, you see… well… humpf…”

“Naruto, either you spill it, or I go home”

“Fine, fine! I wanted to ask you… something about Sakura…”

Sasuke tensed. He could predict what Naruto wanted to talk about.

“S-since that k-kiss… on your birthday… three weeks ago… uh… well…”

“Well, you like Sakura, right?” Sasuke sounded impatient and irritated for some reason. Naruto could see some strange emotion in his eyes but didn’t know what it was.

“Well… yeah… b-but… I-I’m n-not su-sure… I mean, I don’t know what this feeling towards her is…”

“Ok, how do you feel about her?”

“W-well… when I see her, I am like in some trance, where I can see only her. I find her very beautiful and I like talking to her too… she seems to understand me-“

“Better than I do?”

“What?”

“N-nothing… forget about it”

“No, what did you mean?”

“I said, nothing, I’m just tired today”

“Ok… so… do you think I… I…”

“You love her? Yes, I think you do”

“Love?”

“Well, yes, you’re attracted to her…” Sasuke tailed off. He didn’t like this topic. It was hard. Naruto… of course he would be straight… and of course he would love Sakura… he always did. And he of course he wanted to bring Sasuke back just because he was Naruto’s best friend… nothing more…

“I don’t know, Sasuke… Maybe it’s less than love… I even don’t know what love is…” Naruto couldn’t just plainly ask Sasuke about the question that bothered the boy since he first opened his eyes and saw all the people around him, happy they could revive him.

“Well, what do you want from me, I can’t know what you feel” Sasuke said and immediately regretted it. First – Naruto doesn’t remember anything, second – it’s not his fault, Sasuke is… third – Sasuke should be happy for Naruto, being in love with Sakura… this time she would return his feelings.

“I… uh… well, what should I do?”

Sasuke sighed. Lump in his throat, he started “well, I think you should invite her on a date”

Red.

So much… red.

And tears…

I cry?

I cry!

Why?

Why… Sasuke?

“What the hell are you?!”

“Your friend!”

Naruto sat up abruptly. Tears ran down his cheeks, but he didn’t know why. And he didn’t know why he wanted to scream, why such a terrible feeling was inside of him. He wiped his face with his hand. It was dawn. He should get up.

“Hey, Sakura, where’s Sasuke?” Naruto ran to the training ground to find only Sakura standing there.

“I really don’t know, Naruto. I thought you did.” Sakura said, surprised. Sasuke always informed them if he wasn’t able to come to the training.

“Hehe… S-sakura-chan…” Naruto was making circles with his foot on the ground.

“Yes, Naruto?” Sakura noted Naruto was quite red now.

“H-how about we… we g-go on a… a…”

“A what, Naruto”

“Date” he said it so quietly, Sakura didn’t hear.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Naruto blushed even more. He closed his eyes and Sakura saw his ears become red too.

“LET’S GO ON A DATE!” Naruto shouted. Sakura was sure, half of Konoha heard him.

Silence.

“S-so?” Naruto opened his eyes finally. And that’s when Sakura snapped out of it.

“Sure… but you’re paying”

It was 10 in the evening and Sasuke sat on his sofa in his apartment. It was dark in the room, since he didn’t turn the light on. He sat almost unmoving, elbows on his lap, head in his hands, eyes closed.

That evening he saw Naruto and Sakura in the Ichiraku ramen stand, talking, smiling at each other. Naruto seemed so happy and Sakura… well, she was happy too. Sasuke could only be happy that she finally opened her eyes to see a young handsome boy that was not Sasuke but Naruto.

But there was this moment that made Sasuke’s legs run from that place not far from Ichiraku as quick as possible, his head dizzy and his thoughts confused. It was when Naruto looked Sakura in the eyes and failed to say anything, watching her in trance. Sakura had that look in her eyes that made the inexperienced teen freeze. Slowly she closed the distance between the two of them when there were only 2 inches left between Naruto’s and Sakura’s lips.

The time seemed to slow down for Sasuke. He watched as Naruto closed the gap and his lips touched the pink-haired girl’s.

Rage, anger, despair filled the teen and he ran. He didn’t remember how much time he ran, just that all he could think about at that time was “I need to get away from there as far as possible”.

When he stopped he found himself on their training field, where Sasuke and Naruto met the last time. Today he didn’t come there in the morning; he knew the dobe would invite Sakura on a date. Sasuke wasn’t sure if he would be able to watch Naruto ask the girl out. Now he knew, he wouldn’t, if his reaction on Uzumaki’s and Haruno’s kiss is any indication.

He just stood there for 30 minutes and then turned and left to his apartment.

When he got there, he didn’t turn the lights on. He went straight to the sofa and didn’t move since then.

So it was 10 in the evening and Sasuke could only think if he would be able to endure watching Naruto and Sakura love each other every day.

A loud knock could be heard and then a shout: “Open up, Sasukeeeeeeee! You just HAVE to hear about it”

The Uchiha went to the door and opened it ever so slowly.

“What do you want, dobe!”

“Don’t call me a dobe, TEME! Now let me in, will you?” Naruto didn’t wait for an answer and just invited himself in Sasuke’s apartment.

When he spotted the couch in Uchiha’s living room he sat down and waited for Sasuke to join him. The brunet sat down on the sofa and silently looked at Naruto, while the other was spilling his story.

“Remember yesterday you told me to invite Sakura on a date. So today, when you didn’t come to the training – by the way, why didn’t you come to the training – so today in the morning I asked Sakura out and she agreed. So we went to Ichiraku ramen stand and had dinner and I kissed her! I kissed her! And then we went to the park and we watched the sun set – somehow it reminded me of someone’s death, but I can’t put a finger on who was the person who died – and we kissed again, and Sakura told me she really likes me, and I told her I like her too and we kissed after that. And we stayed there until we could see stars and then I walked her home and she said we should repeat this and I said that we could go to the fair the day after tomorrow and she agreed and then we kissed! Sasuke, isn’t this GREAT?!”

As silence followed Naruto’s outburst the boy looked at the strangely pale Uchiha in front of him. Somehow the look on his face – a look of full seriousness – made Naruto’s smile slip and disappear.

“S-sasuke?”

“Go away, Naruto” Cold, awfully cold voice. Naruto flinched.

“Sasuke, what’s wrong?”

“Go away, Naruto. I don’t want to see you”

I can’t stand seeing you and knowing you love her and you can never understand me…

“What… what did I do?”

“I don’t want to be friends with you anymore”

Ok, FINALLY I finished this chapter. So, HORRAY, “Memory” is officially RECONTINUED!!

I’m sorry for such a long wait, guys, and WOW, I surprised myself with the speed with which I finished the 8th chapter. Ok, CONGRATULATIONS everyone, especially me!

Thanx for those, who made me reconsider discontinuing and removing this story. I will finish it!

Ok, for those who didn’t get it: Naruto’s first dream was about that time when Sasuke saved his ass and Naruto swore on his hand that he’ll never need help from anyone again combined with Naruto’s and Sasuke’s usual quarrels and that last phrase was like a

prediction of what Sasuke said in the end of the chapter. Naruto’s second dream was about that time in the Valley of the End when Sasuke first saw Naruto’s red chakra and thought if Naruto’s a monster. It’s the beginning of the 133’d episode.

Thanx again, and I hope you’ll review this chapter)))