-naruto-


The night is trembling.

And all I can feel is this cold, this icy cold, that spills strangely over the surface of my skin.

Touching my cheek with the pale kiss of winter.

I feel this presence around me, I hear their footsteps whisper across the grass, I hear their soft breaths, and my eyelids fall closed, hand moving to rest easily over the forehead protector tied around my upper arm.

I feel the familiar cool of the metal against my skin, tracing the line of the crack I find there with my fingertips.

Somehow it seems deeper than before.

The cloak draped around my form feels large, overwhelming, as if it's shrouding me, suffocating me in black and red.

I don't take it off.

It's different than the others, smaller, fitted, and shorter.

He says it is because I'm special.

I'm his prize.

His secret weapon.

I can't look the same, he said.

Because I'm different.

"Naruto-kun. You haven't spoken since this morning"

I hear the soft voice, feeling it, like silk across my cheek.

Our footsteps continue on, steady, practiced, a mechanical heartbeat.

"Ai"

There is silence.

Kisame glances at me.

Itachi does nothing but walk on.

I love how he doesn't question me further.

"I remember how lively you used to be..."

My gaze doesn't stray from the road ahead.

I just keep walking.

Beside Itachi.

Beside Kisame.

Beside the ones I had hated so much as a genin.

"I wonder what had happened. You're so cold now, Naruto. Kind of alike to Itachi, actually"

I don't say anything.

"He isn't like me"

Kisame glances back at him.

"He is different"

Different...

The word echoes emptily in my mind.

Kisame watches him for a moment longer but looks away again, focusing his gaze back to the front.

"Hm. But it's kind of funny really"

There's a soft smile at his pale, stretched lips.

"A former friend of Sasuke working with Uchiha Itachi... A strange thing..."

There is silence after that.

And I just stare into the dark horizon, feeling those words cut deep into my skin.


-----

-sasuke-


Naruto, Itachi, Naruto, Itachi, Naruto, Itachi...

Their faces flicker across my mind, continuous, coloring my vision with their auras.

I wonder vaugely what's more important to me.

But I know I already have an answer.

Revenge.

Itachi.

This is what I live for.

This is why I left.

This...

Is everything.

Naruto can wait.

My heart can wait.

We can wait.

I hear the footsteps beside me.

It is finally quiet.

For the first time in hours there is no pointless chatter, no arguing, no nothing.

Just the breeze and the chill.

Kaarin glances back at me, slender brow furrowed in slight concern.

"Hey, Sasuke... You haven't said anything since this morning. You okay?"

I don't look at her.

There is more silence.

She hesitates, reluctant, but looks away again.

"Alright, Sasuke. Sorry"

Suigetsu sighs.

And there is nothing.

Just the way I like it.