Author's notes

So...yeah. I've been feeling increasingly unmotivated, due to my real life. My family's falling apart, my friends are all moving, my grades are slipping...I've been so depressed lately that all my creativity's been sucked away...but I mangaed to write this, so maybe it's not all gone. The idea for this...Well, I like to think that Sasuke and me have some similarities...When you grow up with the whole world telling you you can do anything, when the truth finally comes out, that you can't...It's like the ground just got ripped out from under you.

Dedicated to: My beautiful reviewers! Especially those who make the time to review all of my stories, even if it's just a quick little note!

Disclamor: For our poor little Sasuke's sake, it's probably a g ood thing I'm not anywhere close to owning Naruto...

Warnings: Charactor death...angst...and what can be taken as either shohen-ai or just best friends...crappy writing? Although I happen to like this one...

Author: Who else but Obsessive?

A seven-year-old Sasuke sat on the floor, his chin resting on his knees, looking up at his mom. Her long black hair shone in the afternoon light, and, feeling his eyes on her, she turned to him and smiled the beautiful smile she was known for.

"So how's my baby today?" She said, noticing the frown etched on his face.

"I'm fine." He said after a pause, his arms wrapping around himself tighter. Her smile faded, and she knelt down until she was eye-to-eye with him.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke didn't want to talk about it, but, like always, the gentleness of her voice melted his toughness.

"A boy today told me I was stupid. He said I was too dumb to be a ninja." Sasuke's frown deepened and his mother matched his expression before pulling him into a hug.

"Honey, don't listen to him. Just you wait; someday soon you'll be running circles around him!" She kissed his forehead lovingly. "Besides, didn't you already know?"

The small boy tilted his head, curiosity shinning in his eyes. "Know what?"

She gave him her trademark smile again. "You're an Uchiha; You can do anything."

---

A twelve-year-old Sasuke sat by himself on a park bench. He chewed the last bite of his lunch slowly, then threw his trash away. Sighing deeply when he heard the telltale whispering of his numerous fangirls. Since he had become a member of Team Seven, Sakura had kept most of them away, but occasionally one or two snuck by her.

"Who's there?" He asked, bored. There was a stretch of silence, and he was about to move away when he heard someone come out of the bushes.

"It was just us, Sasuke." Sakura and Naruto looked at him somewhat guiltily, and he raised his eyes brow at Naruto. Sakura, well, she was a girl-it was only natural for her to do this. But Naruto…

"It's not-I mean, we weren't-It wasn't…" Naruto looked at a loss of words, a first for the blonde, as far as the brunette knew, and he almost chuckled at the slow blush upon both of their faces.

"It's fine. I was just finishing up lunch." His teammates walked towards him slowly, both with faint curiosity on their faces. He sensed they wanted to ask him something, so he waited patiently.

Finally, the pink-haired girl spoke. "It's just…we were curious, is all." Seeing the look on his face, she continued. "You're…well…you always go off on your own, and we were just…" She didn't finish, looking ashamed for being so nosy.

The Uchiha looked to the side slightly, trying to find that right way to answer the question neither had asked without saying too much. He sighed. "I just don't know how to…be…with people." He said, trying to sound disinterested.

"But Sasuke!" The blonde said, almost gasping. "You're an Uchiha! You can do anything!"

---

A seventeen-year-old Sasuke sat down in a pool of blood. He idly traced patterns in blood on the shirt of the dead body in front of him. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he was vaguely aware of people talking, shouting, screaming, but everything but the blonde and him seemed so far away.

"'I'm taking you back to Konoha! Even if I have to drag your sorry-ass back!'" He said, mimicking Naruto's voice. "'You can't stop me!' 'I'll never stop caring about you!' And…what was that other one…?" Sasuke's eyes glazed over slightly. "Oh, yeah. 'You're my most precious person…'" He trailed off, staring at the dark grey sky.

Turning his gaze back to his ex-best friend, he smiled slightly. "Come on, Naruto. Where's that fighting spirit, huh? Where's the blonde dobe half the world is in love with? Huh? Come on, hit me with your best shot!" He snarled the last bit, and his hands balled into fists, clutching the orange-and-black fabric.

"So this is it? This is the famous power everyone is constantly blathering about? This is the strength of our bond?" He started shouting, punching his late enemy's chest. "Wake up! Wake up, you bastard! Get up and fight me! Come on!" He was now sobbing.

"He's not…he can't get up, Sasuke." He was aware someone was trying to talk to him, trying to calm him down, because the pert of him that was still halfway sane chuckled at the irony of one of his enemy's soothing him.

"Shut up!" He screamed. "Just shut up! He can get up-he will get up! I command him too!" He bit his lip so hard it broke the skin, and blood started running down his shirt. He continued to pound on the blonde, but he finally broke down, and just rested his head on his chest.

'You're an Uchiha; You can do anything.' He could see his mother, smiling down at him with the kind of love only a mother's eyes could have. An image of Naruto, completely bewildered, somehow amazed that Sasuke could doubt his abilities to move the earth itself.

'You're an Uchiha! You can do anything!' He half-shouted at Sasuke, giving him the thousand-watt smile he was famous for. Sasuke smiled grimly, tasting feeling the blood and tears pool on Naruto's unmoving body.

"Not anymore, Naruto. Not anymore."

Hmm...So...What do you think? Please, please try and take the time to review, even if it's just a little three word "This was great!" or "This sucked, dude!"...It feels so good to check your inbox and see that someone liked what you wrote enough to review it.

On a side note, any readers who are either reading "Baby Steps" or "Bound", I need your help. See, I think that maybe, maybe, if I ran a chapter by one of my readers, and had them give some feedback, I might be a little bit of a better writer, and get better at updating my stories...So, if any of you would be interested, leave me a comment in this story or PM me! Thanks!

Reviews are total, complete love. Better than drugs. Seriously. :)