Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto/Boruto, or any of its associated characters

Summary: Spin-off of Desolate Peregrination, about that night that Boruto accidentally catches a glimpse of.

A/N: Hi everyone, I've been thinking about doing little spin-offs of this canon-divergence fics ever since I started Desolate Peregrination. So here is an additional chapter, hope it's worth a read...

This is becoming dangerous, how comfortable Sasuke is becoming with life in Konoha. He swallows dryly as Naruto's chuckles ring out into the dimly lit room. It is becoming dangerous how familiar Naruto's presence is becoming in his everyday routine. The last of the blond's laughter settled in his heart and blue eyes turned to catch his gaze, bright and warm. He watches as the corners of his mouth pull into a content, lopsided grin. Sasuke's heart thuds in warning, dangerous.

A part of Sasuke almost hopes that Naruto would push him away as he presses forward to catch the blond's lips with his own. But he doesn't get pushed away. Instead, when he moves back begrudgingly, he meets blue eyes looking as anguished as he feels.

"I never knew it was possible, to miss someone who is right there, so damn much," Naruto breathes, almost desperately. His hand reaches for Sasuke's cheek, he strokes his fingers through the dark locks, and he pulls Sasuke back towards himself.

In their pleasantly inebriated, heart-achingly vulnerable state, Sasuke loses sight of everything. He forgets about their families, he forgets about their responsibilities, he forgets about everything that is unacceptable to society. Because right here, right now, he is basking in the tender touches of his long forgotten lover.

They make love that night, that was the only way to put it. In their youths, they have had wild, almost primal intercourse, where the world had ceased to exist against their desperate need for each other's flesh. They have had passionate heated sex, where they ravished each other's bodies like it was their last night together. They have had languid, tender lovemaking sessions where the days blurred into nights as they became more and more intoxicated in the drug that was each other. But this was different to every other time that they have lain together. It was the intimate and heartbreaking reacquaintance of a forbidden lover's body. It was the outpouring of sorrow for the loss of their tremendous love through the ministrations of their physical bodies. They made love because they both knew that it should not, and cannot happen again. This time, it really is their last night together.

When Naruto awoke early enough that the skies were still dark, he found himself locking eyes with mismatched red and purple. Sasuke blinked and black took red's place, and Naruto felt his heart break all over again as it did when they shared their last kiss years ago. His heart is breaking from the pain he knew Sasuke shares.

"It's okay," he offers a barely-there-smile as he brushes his fingertips on a pale cheek, gently pushing the hair away from the face, "I wish I can remember as well as you could, teme."

Sasuke blinks once more and his sharingan is back. He doesn't say anything because he doesn't trust himself to; because if he did, he'll ask Naruto to run away with him, he'll want to leave everything behind once more. And he'll regret ever saying those words because they have families now... Families they both love and have responsibilities to. A village they both have to protect. Naruto's reputation to keep intact. Instead, he just watches, and tries to convince himself that he is content just to lay here by Naruto's side. Just for a little longer.

Naruto kisses him softly and moves back just enough so he can speak. All Sasuke can see are glitters of blue as Naruto rests his forehead against his own.

"I love you so much, Sasuke."

That breaks Sasuke. He doesn't stop the tears from falling as he deactivates his eye. Partly because he doesn't want to remember this for the rest of his life without Naruto, partly because he doesn't need it to remember it for the rest of his life without Naruto, like this, by his side.

"Dobe, don't ever say these words to me again," Sasuke manages to say as he turns to face the ceiling and lift his arm over his eyes.

And that shatters Naruto. He bites back his refusal as he watches the tears escape in a trail down the side of Sasuke's face, otherwise perfectly composed and expressionless. He feels his lips quiver and he bites down to stop his own emotions from spilling. Naruto wraps his arms around Sasuke and pulls him flush against himself.

It doesn't matter. His words don't matter. They chose this path. This was all they can have between them, this moment, Sasuke in his arms.

That has to be enough for them. Just this one moment of feeling whole again.

When the darkness receded, Naruto's arms lay in front of him, across an empty bedspread. The morning rays carried away their night of reckless, heady desire and washes ashore their respectable realities to which they now must hold accountable once more.

Naruto stares lifelessly at his hand as it grips on to the bed sheets, his chest ringing hollowly, a requiem reverberating through his bones.

In the early dawn light he had almost asked Sasuke to stay as he dressed with his back to Naruto. Naruto had almost considered the possibility of somehow sharing their lives together again. He will convince Sasuke, he will convince everyone, his friends, his subordinates, his village, that they can work it out. That it is possible. He can convince Sakura, he can convince Hinata, his family, his children... He can...

He cannot-

Sasuke makes the choice for them.

"Sayonara*, Hokage-sama."

That is all it takes for Sasuke to shove Naruto back into his reality. Naruto's head snaps up to take one last look at Sasuke's back before he disappears. Just like that, in an instant, and he was gone. He never looked back.

'Hokage-sama.' How easy it had always been for Sasuke to remind Naruto of where he stood now. He hated it when Sasuke called him that. He hates the irony that in order to fix the home for the person he loves most in his life, he must learn to love him differently. He hates that in order to protect the people they had both come to care about, they must sacrifice each other. He hates that they both so readily sacrifice themselves just so the world runs that much smoother... And he loves Sasuke all the more because of it.

When the rays bounce off the walls and hit the bedspread, blue eyes harden with resolve. Naruto clenches the sheets one last time and rises for the day.

Sasuke leaves silently for his travels once more the next day.

*I used "Sayonara" because there is a tone/meaning of finality to it when they use it in Japan to bid someone goodbye.

A/N: Thanks for sticking around! Like I said in the beginning of this chapter, I have been thinking about spin-offs, but I don't currently have any plans for additional chapters. However, I do have another brain fart regarding Naruto's death. Should the urge arise to unload my brain juices, I'll post another chapter to this fic.

For now, I hope everyone stays happy and safe.