DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto.

Hey, just to let oyu guys know, this will be the final chapter for this fic and its is lengthy, one of my longest chapters, yet. So i hope you like the ending and all. Oh and sorry for the lateness for updating, school started (just finished holidays), and its been hectic and I'm already sick of it, LOL. i remembered to upload this fic during English when we finished reaading Scene 1 Act 5 from Romeo and Juliet and we had to write about it, and then instead of writing Romeo, i randomly wrote 'Naruto'. that took me by suprise, & i like cracked up laughing.

oh and THANK YOU to those who reviewed & i would absoutely love it if everyone who read this fic reviewed.

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The two walked to Ichiraku's in a comfortable silence

The two walked to Ichiraku's in a comfortable silence. Sasuke had his hands digging into his pockets, enjoying the silence. Naruto had his hands at the back of his head, staring happily at the night sky, feeling happier and brighter. Naruto lowered his gaze and looked at his surroundings, it looked to be a peaceful night, and hardly anyone was left wondering the streets. A shadow on the side walk caught Naruto's attention. It was a villager. As the two walked, they closed the distance between them and the villager. When the villager saw Naruto he instantly sneered at him, sending him a rude gesture. Naruto broke eye contact as he lowered his head with embarrassment, hoping that Sasuke hadn't noticed. Naruto could feel the heat crawl up his neck as it was obvious that Sasuke had noticed. Sasuke glared at the villager, making him scurry off. Naruto smiled awkwardly and turned away. An awkward silence hung in the air. Sasuke decided to ask Naruto about the incident, curious as to what the answer would be, "Why was that villager looking at you like that?"

Naruto was silent, walking on as if he hadn't heard, but Sasuke detected Naruto's shoulders go stiff.

"Dobe, I asked you a qu-,"

"Yeah and I heard," said Naruto, feeling irritated, "It doesn't matter anyway, he'd probably mistaken me for someone else-"

Sasuke snorted, "Yeah like there is anyone else who has blonde hair and is always wearing ora-"

"Alright Sasuke!...and I…honestly dunno. I probably did something. Just drop it!" said Naruto, his mood darkening.

"What do you mean? What did you do?" probed Sasuke, obviously ignoring Naruto's last statement.

"I…don't…know…," Naruto sighed, his voice as heavy as the dark cloud that seemed to hang over him.

Naruto turned to Sasuke and smiled though it never met his eyes, "Anyway, it's…uhm… a really nice night tonight, isn't it?"

"Hn"

Sasuke watched Naruto as he picked up his pace, probably wanting to avoid any more encounters with villagers.

"Slow down dobe" grunted Sasuke, in no hurry to get there, though he did pity Naruto, who seemed to want to get there a.s.a.p.

"But I'm hungry! I wanna get there so I can eat!" said Naruto, sounding a little too eager.
Sasuke grunted and picked up his pace.

The rest of their walk to the ramen stand was done in silence. Sasuke noticed how edgy Naruto seemed and wondered if he received this treatment all the time, and why hadn't he gotten used to it? Sasuke knew that he, himself, would have gotten over it because those people didn't matter to him so he would be unaffected, so why did Naruto care? Sasuke decided that if Naruto ever decided to confide in him, maybe he would ask him.

Ichiraku's ramen shop came into view and Naruto leaped with joy as he made his way to the ramen stand. Sasuke rolled his eyes as he followed him, though at a slower pace.
When Sasuke took his seat Naruto was already waiting.

"Hello Naruto" greeted the owner warmly

"Hey old man"

"Who do you have with you? An Uchiha?"

"Yep," Naruto nudged Sasuke in the ribs, "Say hello, teme" whispered Naruto.

Sasuke grunted. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and then turned back to the owner.

"Today Birthday boy is your lucky day. It's nice to see you with another person celebrating, you and your friend will get a free meal as a little present from me"

"WAH? Really?! You remembered?! Thanks old man!" beamed Naruto.

Sasuke nodded with appreciation for the free meal, relieved to not have to pay, knowing the amount Naruto ate.

"No problem," said the owner as he turned away and into the kitchen to make the ramen.

Both Ninja's waited, one in silence and the other humming a playful, yet annoying tune.
Agitated Sasuke glared at Naruto, "Can you shut up?"

"Why?" asked Naruto, his eyes wide and innocent.

"You're pissing me off, that's why"

Naruto shrugged and stopped humming, but began to drum his fingers against the bench, earning a nasty glare from Sasuke. Naruto ignored it, a smile playing on his lips, but instantly regretted it as Sasuke had slammed his hand over Naruto's fingers, earning him a nasty bruise for the next day.

"Teme!" growled Naruto, nursing his bruised hand.

"Hn" grunted Sasuke, a smirk visible.

"Humph!" said Naruto, and then stayed silent.

After a few minutes Sasuke rummaged through his jacket and pulled out a little package and slid it onto the table towards Naruto and waited nervously.

"Huh?" said Naruto, confused.

"Happy Birthday, dobe" muttered Sasuke.

"Eh!"

Naruto was surprised and flushed. He could feel himself go red with embarrassment; he hadn't expected Sasuke to get him anything.

"Uhm…y-you didn't have to" said Naruto, flustered.

"I know, dobe" grunted Sasuke.

Naruto picked up the package and then looked at Sasuke, "Can I open it?"

"What kind of stupid question is that, Baka," growled Sasuke.

Naruto laughed sheepishly, "I'll take that as a 'yes'" and ripped open the package, excitement and curiosity visible on his face.

Naruto opened up the parcel, restraining himself from tearing it apart. He tipped it into his hand and felt the coolness of an opal shaped pendent rest into his palm. He took one look at it and was awed. It was a red Sharingan pendent that also held three black orbs inside it. They looked exactly like Sasuke's eyes.
Attached to the pendent was strong black material that would hold it around his neck.

"Wow, its-its…so…wow"

"Hn" said Sasuke, though inwardly pleased.

"But…I can't have this…it's too good-" said Naruto, as he attempted to hand it back to Sasuke.

Sasuke glared, "When someone gives you something you take it"

"Yeah I guess so," laughed Naruto sheepishly. "But isn't this like valuable…an-and special"

Naruto didn't want Sasuke giving him one of his families very few possessions. He wanted Sasuke to keep them for himself. As if Sasuke had read his mind he decided to explain to Naruto, though his gaze was beyond Naruto.

"My mother gave it to me when I was 7. She told me to give it to someone I considered close…back then, Itachi…he was the one I'd considered close, but…," Sasuke paused for a moment, scowling. Naruto watched him attentively to notice Sasuke's face darken as shadows consumed his face; "Shit happened… and after that incident I thought else wise" finished Sasuke with a bitter laugh.

Naruto smiled sadly, he somewhat understood Sasuke, he too had experienced betrayal with those he'd trusted. Then to lighten up the mood Naruto smiled a bright smile, Sasuke considered him close. Sasuke saw Naruto smile and instantly growled as if once again he'd read the blonde's mind, "Not that I consider you close, dobe" earning a scowl from Naruto as he reassured him, and himself, "But because the pendent is not just there to look good, it actually has some unique powers. I have one, it's at home and if I were to wear it and you wore yours, then it would hold connection. It gives off a little warning by glowing when a person is low on chakra. That way the other person would always know when you are in danger. I only gave it to you because you are my team-mate. And that way it's easier saving your ass" said Sasuke with a smirk.

Naruto poked his tongue out at the comment, but smiled as he traced that the opal with his finger and then quickly slid it over his head and around his neck. It felt cool against his chest. Still smiling he turned to look at Sasuke, who looked emotionless and bored. Sasuke watched Naruto's smile change into a look of mischief and knew what was going to happen next.

"N-NO!!" shouted Sasuke in advance.

But it was too late; Naruto had attacked Sasuke with a body consuming bear hug. Sasuke instantly stiffened; this was just too close for comfort.

"Get off me dobe!!" growled Sasuke, which was muffled by Naruto's laughter.

"I SAID GET OFF!" yelled Sasuke, pumping chakra into his fists and applying it on the blonde. Naruto caught off guard flew off of Sasuke and several feet from his stool, landing on the floor with a 'thud'.
Naruto glared at the Uchiha, though a smile did play on his lips afterwards. Sasuke felt a little guilty for over doing it and decided to offer him a hand. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand and then yanked him to the floor. Surprised and defenseless Sasuke fell to the ground, but instantly recovering as he made sure to punch Naruto several times as he did so. Naruto laughed as he winced, making sure to tackle Sasuke.

Both boys attacked each other with punches and kicks earning winces and groans from the both of them, but both stopped injuring the other when they heard the old man clear his throat.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't tear down my stand," he said with a glare, "And your ramen is ready", he said with a lighter note, his eyes twinkling as he watched both boys trying to hide their embarrassment. He inwardly smiled; glad to see Naruto enjoying company with someone his age…even if it was an Uchiha.

Naruto was the first to get up and offered his hand out to Sasuke. Sasuke grabbed it, "thanks," and then pulled Naruto to the ground as he got up, "For nothing" said Sasuke, his lips twitching in a smile as he smirked.

"That's not fair!" whined Naruto as he got up by himself and sat on his stool. Naruto stopped whining when he saw his bowl of ramen, steaming in his face. He quickly grabbed a pair of chopsticks and popped them open from their wrapper and shouted, "Itadakimasu" then dug into his ramen,

Sasuke rolled his eyes and did the same thing, only slowly. Both boys dug into their ramen hungrily, one was silent, while the other slurped loudly with no consideration for table manners. When both boys finished Sasuke pushed his empty bowl of ramen away as Naruto did the same thing to his 15 bowls of ramen. They both sighed content; they were now full and tired. Naruto hummed softly, this had had to be his best, yet worst birthday ever, but more of a best.

Later, both boys had already left the ramen stand and were walking the empty dark streets back to Naruto's. There was a comfortable silence, but as Sasuke suspected it was not going to last long.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn"

Naruto rolled his eyes and then slowly smiled.

"Thanks…" Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, "Thanks, for everything. This was the best Birthday ever… thanks to you"

Naruto then took the risk of slinging his arm around Sasuke shoulders, ignoring the way Sasuke's body stiffened and the uncomfortable death glare, by laughing it all off. Sasuke shrugged off Naruto's unwanted hands, but Naruto ignored him and placed them back on, laughing even harder, for no apparent reason. Sasuke rolled his eyes as he gave up. Sasuke and Naruto were only a few Houses away from Naruto's.

As they approached the house Naruto's laughter died down and Sasuke felt the blonde's body stiffen as he stopped dead in his tracks, removing his arm off of Sasuke. All was silent. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto confused, Naruto was no longer smiling, he looked pale, and his mood had changed in mere seconds as it had darkened. The air around him slowly became static. Sasuke thought that Naruto was going to lose control, again. Sasuke could have sworn that Naruto's eyes flashed red for a second and once again decided to step in and do something, but he never got the chance. All of a sudden everything was normal again. The air held no static or danger. Sasuke glanced at Naruto, but strangely Naruto's face held no emotion. It held nothing. His face was blank. Sasuke was very confused.

Before Sasuke could turn to look in the same direction as Naruto, which was Naruto's house, Naruto had blocked the Uchiha's view with his body and a tight smile.

"Hey teme, you don't really need to walk me home. You can go now" said Naruto, giving Sasuke a push to what seemed to be the opposite direction of his home.

Sasuke sidestepped Naruto, annoyed for being pushed around and faced the front of his house. The windows were broken and the house was vandalized with red graffiti. Several words stood out as they were written roughly all over the house.

Sasuke mouthed them softly, "Die demon. Kyuubi" not realizing that with every word said Naruto had flinched. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto and noticed the blonde's face burning with embarrassment and his eyes looked shadowed. Sasuke looked away from the house and waited for Naruto to say something. Anything. Just to break the intense silence. But he stayed silent.

Inwardly, Sasuke was fuming with anger, 'What would it take for those bastards to stop harassing him. He is just a kid, and all there are doing is breaking him.'

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, ready for another excuse, but was taken back he saw Naruto looking at him, intensely.

"You probably want to know why…the reason for this," he waved his hand towards the graffiti on his house.
"So I think that it is time I explained…and told you the truth…right from the beginning."

Sasuke only nodded, allowing the blonde to continue.

Naruto felt tired and nervous. He wasn't quite sure how the Uchiha would react, though he did think that one of the reactions might be disgust, so he prepared himself for the worst. After all, if Sasuke couldn't see him for whom he was now, than he never really did understand Naruto.

"I'll start back when the village was being attacked by a Kyuubi-"

Sasuke noticed the tight and grim expression Naruto's face held. He knew how hard it could be telling someone deep and personal. It wasn't a nice feeling. It was uncomfortable. It was also risky, not knowing what the others reaction might be.

"Don't worry, I already know" said Sasuke, cutting him off…

Naruto froze, and then shook his head.

"No Sasuke, I don't think you do, nobody knows this," said Naruto hastily. He was hoping that Sasuke would try to understand and give him time to explain and then decide. " Just listen to me-"

"I know that you are Kyuubi."

Both of them stood their in silence. In shock. In disbelief. Sasuke had stuffed up; he hadn't meant to say it like that.
Naruto's face twisted with emotion. He was shocked, gutted and felt cold. He should have known that Sasuke was just like them, the villagers, but perhaps even worse. Sasuke was his team mate. They completed missions together. They had saved one another's lives. They had looked out for each other…
But he should have had known the cold hard truth. He did expect it, but he hadn't thought it would hurt this much, like a thousand shuriken and kunai stabbing him in one spot, continuously. The betrayal then turned to anger. He felt bitterness and dislike.

"Well thank you for summing it all up for me and understanding," snarled Naruto.

"That's not what I meant-"

"No, Sasuke that is exactly what you meant. I shouldn't have been surprised. I thought you would have tried to understand. But you are just like them." spat Naruto. He was trying his best to pull himself together, to not break down.

"I didn't mean to say that" argued Sasuke. "I had only found out a couple hours ago-"

"By who?" asked Naruto cautiously.

"Tsunade-sama"

"What did she tell you?"

"Everything about that night, about Kyuubi and about the sealing," Sasuke paused, and then continued. "And I know that you are not Kyuubi. I know that you are just the carrier; you're not Kyuubi and never will be. And I don't think you are a demon."

Naruto didn't quite believe him. "Then why did you say that, had you not thought that?"

'Damn,' thought Sasuke, 'this is getting too tricky'.

"I will be honest with you. I had been stupid enough to think that. I actually believed that you were the demon himself." Sasuke noticed Naruto's face fault, or perhaps it was a wince. "But, with that I thought, you can't be Kyuubi. Had you been him, you wouldn't be where you are today. A demon is not exactly likely to feel sadness and neglect throughout their childhood or to be laughing and pulling pranks, or smiling, or saving people's lives, like mine. You can't be a demon, because you are you, you are Naruto, the carrier of Kyuubi and my team mate." finished Sasuke.

Naruto was surprised; he hadn't expected Sasuke to say all of that, or any. He also knew what Sasuke said was the truth. He hadn't lied at all. And because of that he had also stopped feeling the stabbing pain that he'd felt earlier. He felt almost relieved and happy, though he couldn't help but still feel some doubt.

Sasuke quietly sighed with relief. Naruto's expression had softened. He looked happy, but there was still some doubt, but there was nothing Sasuke could do about that. Sasuke didn't know what to do next. There was an awkward silence. Both boys turned to look at the house.

"Why do you let them do it?" asked Sasuke.

"I don't know"

"Why don't you stop them?"

"Because I can't"

"Why can't you?"

"I don't know" said Naruto, burying his head into his hands, and rubbing his face, "I just don't know"

"Then what do you know" asked Sasuke.

"That the demon inside me has hurt them and they have a right to-"

"What the hell?! What do you mean 'they have a right'? It was not your fault. You are just the carrier. You are what saved this village. They aren't the only ones suffering, you're fing carrying a burden, you are the one who should have the right to-"

"Enough," said Naruto holding his hand up to silence his angry friend. Naruto was inwardly quite happy that Sasuke had said what he did. Naruto felt warm and comforted by his words. The truth. And it had destroyed the doubt Naruto had held.

"Hn" grunted Sasuke, trying to hide his embarrassment, he had said too much.

"Look, its getting late. You better get going…and I…I have a house to clean. Oh and thanks…what you said earlier, it meant…a lot," said Naruto awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. He smiled and turned, walking towards his house.
Sasuke stood there. A generous idea had unfolded.

"Dobe" called Sasuke.

"What, teme?" said Naruto, turning to face Sasuke.

"F the house for tonight. Come stay over mine for the night"

"Eh?!"

"Are you serious?" said Naruto, not believing what he was hearing, "But who is going to fix this? I can't leave it till tomorrow, people will see"

"Hn" Sasuke shrugged and turned away, walking slowly.

Naruto watched the Uchiha turn his back and felt anger.

"Hey Teme! TEME!"

Sasuke kept on walking.

"SASUKE"

Sasuke responded to his name and stopped to turn around.

"But how am I supposed to fix this up?"

"Genjutsu?"

"Can't. I never understood that"

"Try" said Sasuke with a smirk.

"Fine," grumbled Naruto.

He closed his eyes and made a set of hand seals, concentrating. He let chakra flow from his body, in hope that the jutsu would work.

Meanwhile, Sasuke quickly made the same set of seals and activated the genjutsu, smirking. He knew Naruto wouldn't be able to do it.

Naruto opened his eyes and was amazed. It had worked. The front of his house looked normal and ordinary. But…it felt different. The chakra was not his. It was Sasuke's. Naruto turned to glare at Sasuke. Sasuke didn't say a word, just turned around walked towards his home.

"Stay home, I don't mind" said Sasuke, his back to Naruto. He raised his hand and did a backward salute to Naruto.

Sasuke instantly felt a breeze pass him, and then an arm around his shoulders. It was Naruto.

"No, I think I will take you up on that offer." said Naruto happily, ignoring Sasuke's glare.

"Payback's a bitch, ain't it Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn" grunted Sasuke.

The two bickered all the way home.

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END OF STORY! let me know what you guys thought. did you like the ending? Oh, and i have already planned out and written a series of a One-shots that i plan on posting soon. They are all non related to eachother but are all of Naruto. Coming soon, a NAru x Hina one shot tragedy. Then prob another Sasuke Naruto friendship, though oneshot and on a lighter note, with humour.

anyway, TC & review (