Disclaimer: Not mine, never mine.

Light

Naruto wasn't anything special.

He tried to convince himself of that.

He was just a dobe, a hyperactive child of a ninja who didn't understand just how cruel life was. All he was was just a failure decked out in all orange.

But Sasuke couldn't help remaining aware of him; of the bright falseness of his smile and that underlying belief that everything would be alright. Sasuke watched him some days, the merest edge of a power Naruto himself didn't know he possessed teasing at his senses in little red tendrils.

There were times Naruto was quiet; they were rare, but Sasuke would notice the dimmed look in those blue –like the midday sky- eyes almost immediately. He watched the class continue, unmoved, as though the lack of speech on Naruto's part was nothing to them.

-

He wondered whether the others were blind. Wondered whether all they noticed was what they wanted to notice. Sighed inaudibly at the fact that his every move was scrutinized for shades of meaning that did not exist, and that Naruto's every move was studiously ignored.

He wondered if he was the only one who noticed. Sakura - happy at some thing or another - had smiled at Naruto one morning, and it had left him happy all day. Naruto had come to school the next day and announced his crush on Sakura, as though it were his badge of normalcy; as though he could fit in and talk with the boys about the girls they liked.

Hah. Sasuke already knew he wouldn't.

Naruto's flame burnt too brightly.

-

Everyone has to make their choice. To flare up and light the world with the power of a thousand suns, or to burn steadily, your banked flame supporting the rest.

Which would you choose… to light up the world in brilliance for that one sparkling, perfect moment, or to shine long and slow?

-

The days passed, and Sasuke watched as that faint shadow over Naruto's light flickered in and out, watched with detached amazement as it darkened when he himself spoke that hated word.

"Dobe!"

He watched it flare to incendiary brightness as Naruto claimed them as his teammates, as Iruka-sensei appeared.

Some days Sasuke thought that this was the only thing the Sharingan was good for – watching the slow flare and dimming of Naruto's light.

-pov change -

He was there again, amidst the dripping dampness of the cell, and the redness of the Kyuubi. Its chakra pulsed insistently in the air, whispering of liberty and the sweet scent of the forests in autumnal fire.

Nine tails moved restlessly through the air; Kyuubi moved, suddenly there before him.

Foolish kit, do you really think that you can break free of this? That you can be anything more than dead last? The unwanted one?

Don't delude yourself.

You'll always be alone. You'll live out your life as a ninja, die for the village.

And still they won't thank you for it – they'll rejoice.

All they see is me, never you.

All you are, all you will ever be, is the puny mortal flesh that covers me, that bears their hatred and their fear.

Naruto burst out of sleep as a hand shook him roughly; a shadowed face hung above him. Sasuke, his mind told him.

"Don't think too much, dobe. You'll hurt yourself trying. "

"Teme! Die, Sasuke!"

-

Sasuke watched in relief, as the light brightened again, from the merest flicker it had dimmed to, to the incandescent light that he would always identify as Naruto.

A/N:

It's my first attempt at Naruto fanfiction, and I'd really appreciate feedback on the characters -grins-

posted previously at the sasuxnaru community.