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The day Naruto drags Sasuke back inside Konohagakure’s walls he thinks everything is finally okay. He can drop to his knees, unconscious Sasuke tumbling from his exhausted arms to the uneven ground, can allow himself to roll to his back, close his eyes and rest for the first time in years.
Because Sasuke is home. Unconscious and bloody, but he’s home, and the shinobi already waiting for them at the gates take hold of him and he’s safe.
He can’t escape from Naruto’s grasp anymore, doesn’t have anywhere to run, and Naruto can breathe easier.
He’s never thought past this moment, has fixated on bringing Sasuke home so long he forgot to consider the after, but he’s not worried. Sasuke’s home, that’s all that matters to him. Besides, Kakashi is Hokage and he’d never let anything happen to Sasuke.
There are things he fails to consider.
Kneeling in front of the council, Sasuke demands for his execution. Kakashi’s eyebrows raise, the only crack in his carefully constructed mask of indifference. It’s all a blur to Naruto after that.
He thinks he says something, yells at Sasuke to snap out of it, maybe he even tries to get close to him. He’s escorted out, perhaps. Kakashi’s gaze never leaves Sasuke’s bowed form.
Naruto storms his office after, fists his fingers in his shirt to hide the shaking. Kakashi can’t actually be entertaining Sasuke’s suicidal thoughts, he’s told the idiot to shut up and accept a prison sentence like normal criminals. Right?
Kakashi’s raspy voice when he tells him to sit down is like lead in Naruto’s stomach. He doesn’t.
“It’s Sasuke’s decision,” Kakashi tells him. “You can’t force someone who’s ready to go to live.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” Naruto argues back, vision filling with black dots. “You can’t listen to him.”
“You think I want him dead, Naruto?” Kakashi asks and it’s the exhaustion in his voice that makes Naruto pause. He slumps in his chair, looking decades older than his meager thirty, and brings a hand to his eyes in a tired manner. “You think I… he’s still my student.”
“Which is why you can’t,” Naruto whispers, voice shaky. “He’s my… You can’t.”
“It’s Sasuke’s decision,” Kakashi repeats.
It’s not until Naruto watches Sasuke laying in a hospital bed, Kakashi and Sakura on either side of him, that he understands what the Hokage meant. Sasuke’s face is peaceful when Sakura releases the contents of the needle in his veins.
Her face is blotchy, her lower lip trembling with the effort of keeping her face composed. Kakashi’s fists are clenched behind his back so tightly Naruto can see blood welling up in his palms. He himself is in a daze, watching the scene of Sasuke’s eyes closing like from afar.
He registers somewhere behind the fog that Sasuke’s dying. That he’s taking his last breaths on that hospital bed, surrounded by the only three people who’ve ever loved him and are still alive to love him. That Naruto’s losing him.
It’s okay, because Sasuke’s at peace. Naruto is selfish, was selfish when he dragged Sasuke home and every time before that, but in this he refuses to be. Sasuke was a man made of jagged pieces that never quite fit. He was suffering.
He’s killed his brother, has avenged his family to the best of his ability. Now he’s ready to forgive his brother, to meet him again and maybe, for once in his life, he wouldn’t have to suffer.
And Naruto loves Sasuke. So he grits his teeth, bites his cheek until the skin tears and blood fills his mouth, bitter and coppery. He doesn’t take his eyes off his love, refuses to let him go alone because he owes him that much at least.
Sasuke’s head drops to rest against his shoulder. Hot tears burn at Naruto’s eyes and Sakura finally lets out a loud sob. She doesn’t have to be strong anymore.
There’s an inherent cruelty in their situation. To chase something for years only to get it ripped out of your hands forever. Naruto’s only seventeen. He’ll have decades left without Sasuke. The weight of that threatens to buckle him, the realization the one thing he’s ever wanted and never had is no longer there for him to ever have.
Naruto looks at Sasuke, commits his face to memory, every curve and blemish. He has many memories of him, but this is the first – and last – of him looking truly at peace. And that’s why Naruto’s able to turn around and leave without looking back.
He brought his best friend home. Home just isn’t Konoha.