Reflection

(Normal, third-person POV)

The rain poured down, soaking them to the skin. Sasuke didn't care. Both of them needed to get to shelter.

He continued to run, barely managing to avoid the rocks that he could trip over, and the tree branches that could smack him square in the face. Finally, he stumbled upon an old cabin. He looked down at the teen that he held in his arms. Uzumaki Naruto.

Hang in there...please...

Slowly, he opened the door and stepped inside.

“Hello? Is anybody here?”

Sasuke listened. No answer. He figured that the cabin was probably abandoned.

He stepped closer inside, and sat down in the darkness, placing Naruto against his chest. Fumbling around in his pocket, he finally found a lighter. Once flicked on, it illuminated the darkness that had almost completely engulfed the two.

After some many minutes of glancing around with the little light (no pun intended) that he had, he found a candle. After a few attempts, he had successfully managed to light it. Now able to seem he lifted Naruto up and carried him over to the bed on the other side of the cabin.

A few hours later, Naruto awoke, only to find that his head was laying against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke had dozed off. Gently, Naruto shook one of Sasuke's shoulders. Sasuke's eyes flew open.

“Sasuke?”

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, realizing that he was awake. He began to think of what to do next. Should they leave and go somewhere else? Should they stay here?

However, Naruto broke Sasuke's train of thought when he got out of bed and tried to walk around the cabin.

“Naruto!”

“What...? Do you have a problem with me standing?”

“...Your condition hasn't been too great lately...”

“Then, I might as well enjoy life as long as I can still stand, right?”

Although he had spent such a long time with him, Sasuke still didn't understand how Naruto was always so energetic and optimistic.

Again, Naruto shattered his train of thought.

He had fainted.

“NARUTO!”

Sasuke immediately walked to the other side of the cabin, lifted Naruto into his arms, and placed him back on the bed. Things were just getting worse...

Naruto awoke about an hour later. Managing to sit up, he positioned himself against the wall. Sasuke noticed this, and went over to Naruto right away, just in case Naruto tried to get out of bed again.

However, as he got closer to Naruto, he realized that Naruto was still wearing something from one year ago. He'd kept it hidden all this time.

Naruto realized what Sasuke was staring at. He smiled.

“Sasuke...”

Sasuke looked up at Naruto.

“Do you remember when we first met?”

"It's already been a year since then...”

-Flashback-

The sun reached its peak in the sky as Sasuke neared the building. They had said that he would be there for an indefinite amount of time.

The hospital.

Sasuke turned around and faced the life that he was leaving behind. It felt like a death sentence, going to the hospital. In only a matter of moments, everything would be gone.

His mother called him over. He hadn't realized how long he'd been looking back. Immediately, he snapped back to reality and continued to walk towards the building.

They proceeded to enter, the automatic doors locking his old life behind him. They waited in a small room. A nurse came in to lock an ID bracelet around Sasuke's wrist. Eventually, the same nurse came in to escort him and his family into the elevator. Sasuke leaned against the one of the walls. The elevator soon came to a stop. His stomach dropped. The very fact that he had chosen not to think about had sunk in.

The fact that he was very ill.

The rest of the day went slowly. The nurse showed him where his bed was, where the lounge was, and everything else that you could imagine that was supposed to be on that floor. Sasuke remained tuned out the whole time.

That night, after his family had left, he barely slept. In the morning, he took a short walk on the floor. There, at the other end of the hallway, he saw another male, about his age, sitting on a windowsill. He had blonde hair and whisker-like marks on his face. Sasuke walked over and sat next to him. They sat there for a while, silent.

“You're...new aren't you?” he asked.

Sasuke simply nodded.

“...I'm Naruto. What's your name?”

“It's Sasuke.”

“Well Sasuke, did they tell you that you were coming here to be treated?”

“I was tuned out the whole time...but I think that I remember them saying that.”

“I haven't walked outside of this floor in 8 years. They're still saying that, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“Well, Sasuke, let me tell you something...”

“Hm?”

“This floor...you don't come here simply to be treated. That's just a crock of shit...”

“This is where you come to die, Sasuke...”

Sasuke stared at him in disbelief. That couldn't be true...could it?