I advise listening to 'lucy' by skillet while reading this; enjoy

Sasuke walked past other, less important people, going to that one person who mattered, going towards the one reason he kept fighting, the reason he had killed the snake bastard, pushing so much chakra into the tainted seal placed on his neck that the backlash had temporarily weakened the man, making it easy for enraged Uchiha to kill the sennin; a feat thought to be impossible for a mere genin and they had praised him, ignoring the reason for the rage, ignoring the person who fuelled the power… the power, he had been told… made you so much stronger when fighting for the one who meant the most…

Sasuke had risen to new heights working until… until he could fulfil the dream for him… when he couldn't do it himself…

"hey Naruto… yeah, I remember your name… even after all this time…" the Hokage knelt down, placing the dozen orange roses down in front of the white marble of the grave-stone, the still white stone reflecting the work of few…the work of the very few people who had acknowledged the blond… who still gave a damn after all this time; he knelt down fully, the dry grass crunching under him as he brushed the sakura petals and leaves away from the ground, looking at the name he missed so much, the one person who had been able to draw feelings other than resentment at him, the one person he had…

"Tsunade-san told me… yeah, I'm still going to therapy… can't let anything happen to it, now can I… anyway… she said I should talk to someone… she doesn't realize that you're the only person I want to talk to… so here I am…"

Sasuke lowered his head, resting it against the stone, hand clenched over his heart. He remembered people talking about how it helped… how it brought closure by simply saying the person's name; he opened his eyes, looking at the inscription as he felt the stinging behind them…

"Naruto… it's your birthday… I miss you so much… why can't I go back?" he choked out, hating that he had to live with the choices he had made, barely being able to live with it… he did though, not being able to let the last living part of Naruto go… when all he wanted to do was hold the blond, all he wanted to do was tell the Dobe – a title that had become sacred in his mind, a sign of his utmost respect… and love…

Sasuke looked down, tears starting to gather in his eyes; since it had been over, he had not been able to hide his emotions, had been unable to allow such coldness into something that had almost always held such care…

The tears fell, as he remembered it happening, pushing at the bandages that hung loosely over his face as he fell back into the memories…

~888~

He had attacked his brother, when the blue man had slipped ever so slightly and Sasuke… Sasuke had had been unable to get out of the way…

Then there had been pain… so much pain… then darkness…

He had woken with his face bandaged, two blonds in the room – that he could see, his one side blocked by the bandages - one was his teammate, the person he had seen frozen in front of his brother; he had felt a moment of need, to stop and just get Naruto out of there, when hate clouded his mind.

The other blond was a busty woman he didn't recognise.

"… yes, the bandages can come off today, as soon as he wakes up in fact… which he has!" she said, turning hazel eyes on him. Naruto spun around, seeming slightly off balance… Sasuke felt his eye widen; Naruto was bandaged… just like him… wha…?

"teme!" the blond chirped, a wide smile on his face and Sasuke felt a tiny smile crack his stoic mask, even as the woman started un-bandaging him.

"What happened dobe?" the Uchiha asked, amused.

"well, the damaged couldn't be fixed, and I know how badly you need to fulfil your dream, so I gave you mine; I can so become the first Hokage like this!" the blond said, but didn't smile as wide as usual, obviously not wanting to hurt whatever injury he had…

Wait… Sasuke frowned, what had he given me? He watched as the blond raised a mirror…

Sasuke could only stare in shock.

~888~

The next day Naruto had died… the blond – Tsunade – had gone to the traitor, and Naruto, in an attempt to save her when she had been so close to dying… he had never seen the blow coming…

Tears fell freely, as he stared dully at the stone, when the clearing of a throat made him stand up, sharinngan blazing-

Miss-matched eyes met miss-matched eyes; sharinngan stared head on, blue clashing with grey, until, the one faded to black.

Sasuke stared at his ex-sensei, the man silent as raven black and sapphire blue shed tears.

Kakashi had been the first to try killing Sasuke after seeing the eye, staring lifelessly at the still body of the blond, eye still bandaged. Sasuke had learned how Kakashi had gotten his sharinngan eye, then had been told he shamed Naruto's gift.

"Hokage-sama." But… "You are late your meeting." He was the first to forgive him too…

"It's his birthday today…" he murmured, looking at the roses he had laid down, the flowers insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Kakashi nodded, sighing; he gently took his Hokage by the elbow, leading him out of the cemetery.

As they exited the grave-yard, Sasuke looked back at the marble grave, resting atop the small hill, sakura tree swaying in the wind; as the sun set, Sasuke felt his breath catch as he saw, for the briefest of moments…

Naruto standing beside his grave, bandages covering the gaping hole as he smiled softly at the raven, light making him seem like an angel before he seemed to fade with the scattered blossoms.

"Until next time… Naruto-koi…" because I can never say goodbye…

This is what I got, I want to do a fuller fic about this – based off the pic I found.

This fic is a combined result of two things; the song 'lucy' by skillet, and the following picture; go see! Don't forget to remove the spaces…

: / / static. zerochan NARUTO. full. 284906. jpg

And please review!