Work Text:
Day 16
Promise
Soft cloth rustled behind him. Even if he hadn’t looked over his shoulder to see Naruto he would have known the heavy, dense feeling of the Nine Tails chakra anywhere. With a deep sigh Sasuke turns. Naruto has changed since he last saw him, he has grown both physically and emotionally. Sasuke knows this because if this confrontation had come even a year earlier Naruto would have come in yelling and attacked. Instead he stands stock still across the little fire warming the cave Sasuke is camping in. There is something in his eyes that makes Sasuke pause, a certain stillness he hasn’t seen before. Naruto’s blue eyes are almost glacial.
Loosely grasping the handle of his sword Sasuke tilts his chin up and growls, “Why are you here, loser? Come to beg me to come back with you again?”
Naruto’s gaze slips away every time Sasuke tries to meet his eyes. Suddenly the massive chakra surrounding Naruto disappears. It is like all the air in the cave is sucked out. Expecting an attack Sasuke slips into a defensive stance but Naruto just shakes his head. Moving slowly, almost like he is extremely exhausted or injured, Naruto reaches up to untie the knot of his Leaf headband. The little metal plate gleams in his palm. Still moving like his muscles are seizing up he kneels and places the headband on the ground in front of him. Taking a kunai from his belt he sets the sharp tip against the metal.
Naruto’s voice has the rough quality of someone whose throat has been torn by too many screams, scraping over abused tissue to say, “I didn’t come here to beg, Sasuke. I came here because it’s all I have left. Itachi trusted me to bring you home. Sakura trusted me to bring you home. I swore I would. I promised, Sasuke. I gave them the only thing I have that’s worth anything, my word. But you’ve made me see I can’t keep those promises. I told you once that our bond is as close to a brother as I can have. I meant it. I still mean it. And that made me realize trying to force you to come back isn’t what you need. You have always tried to do things alone and maybe that’s where I went wrong. I should have stayed by your side instead of trying to make you stay by mine. So from now on I will. But this time I can give you more than my word.” The screech of metal on metal is deafening in the small space. When Naruto finally looks up he offers the marred remains of his headband to Sasuke in supplication.