Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, etc.

Summary: Next time, he won't walk away. ( Naruto )

The sun is above the waters,
Yet it will disappear in mere moments.

Naruto was four years old when he saw Sasuke for the first time in his life.

It wasn't intentional, of course. The little boy happened to be strolling along the riverbank that day. The boy was coming back from the woods near the school where he usually trained on his own. He didn't have anyone to train with. Nobody wanted to train with him.

He didn't really know why.

But the boy was walking along the riverbank that day. It was hot, but there was a cool breeze every now and then that ruffled the top of his hair once in awhile. He was walking – trying to figure out how he could possibly make the 3 minute waiting time in Instant Noodles go by faster – when he saw him.

Naruto frowned. The sunset was radiating warm colors towards the village, minus the shadows that crept up behind the objects. But he saw that boy on the pier just sitting there. Naruto thought he looked like a shadow. A really, really, old shadow… even if he was about the same age as himself.

But then Naruto smiled.

He looks like a shadow, he thought. He looks like a shadow from the sun.

The boy debated whether to go over there and talk to him. It wasn't like he really had anything to do once he got back to his flat. But it didn't really look like the boy wanted to play with him, either. He went down the grassy hill and to the end of the pier where the shadow was sitting.

The shadow turned to look at him, and then looked away.

Naruto thought that he didn't want to be bothered. He gave him a sad look before walking up the hill once more and following the dusty road back to his flat.

He looks familiar.

He looks like me.

The roar of rushing water is deafening in Naruto's ears. He is intimidated by the stone statues that surround the area. But the person in front of him makes him even more intimidated. The boy tells himself to calm down already. It's a fight. Just a fight.

Not really.

Naruto doesn't really know what to do. Should he knock Sasuke out and drag him back to Konoha? He frowns. What if he didn't want to go back? What if that Sound ninja was right about him not wanting to go? Would he be doing the right thing? He shakes his head. He made a promise. And he never goes back on his word.

That's his way of the ninja.

If he's going to come back, he needs to come back with his own free will. If he's going to come back, and on his blood he would, he would come back because he wanted to. Because he wants their friendship and their trust.

Silence except the rushing water of the waterfall and the slap of the water against the wooden poles that both of them perch on. None of them are saying a word – both of them are equally surprised and tired from the fighting that had occurred only two minutes before.

They're both bobbing in the gigantic lake, heaving heavy breaths. Naruto wants to wipe some dirt off of himself, but he knows that he'll be getting even dirtier soon and that it wasn't worth it at the precise moment. Sasuke has got little scratches on his face for once. And there, the boy makes a resolution:

He wants to win.

"When I hang out with you… Sometimes… Sometimes it feels like having a brother."

And yet he loses anyway.

There's a sort of hymn that comes from the churning weapons of pure energy.

The Rasengan has a sort of whoosh sound that is quiet in the center, yet spreads around the edges. The Chidori has a sort of scratchy noise like a thousand birds in the air. And it was sort of the opposite of the Rasengan. Its noise was faint on the outside, yet the middle was exploding with noise that could've deafened someone's ear if they weren't already used to the sound.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

There's a brief moment when they both clash together, sending red and blues across the place, the colors reflecting off the waterfall and opening up to the sky. They each shout their attacks as loud as they can, as if their fighting spirits would help them win against each other.

There's a brief moment when each of them feel each other piercing – digging into one another's skin. Breaking the defense.

There's that moment when one of them is falling.

And as he falls, Naruto thinks that maybe he shouldn't have walked away like that all those years ago.

He thinks that he should've walked closer to that lonely boy on the pier. He thinks that he should've said something to him instead of going away like that. The boy thinks that if he had shaken his hand, the shadow could've – would've smiled. And then Naruto thinks that this wouldn't have happened in the end anyway.

And even if that same shadow – that same boy is walking off in the rain and leaving his headband behind, Naruto knows for a fact that he won't walk away this time.

He decides that he's going to walk closer to that lonely boy that's walking off into the rain. He's going to say something to him. He's going to shake his hand. He knows that once he does, the boy will smile at him.

And then everything will be forgiven.

The shadow lingers for a brief second,
Before following the sun itself and disappearing.

A/N. Hum. This is more of a kind of friendship thing. Yes… strange. An idea that came when it was really windy outside.

Quotes were written by me on the spot. XD