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"So, bastard. I wondered when you were going to show up."
Sasuke opened his eyes, blinking as his blurry vision was filled with impossibly yellow hair. The image gradually resolved to include a pair of amused blue eyes, upside-down and crinkled at the corners above a painfully familiar toothy grin. He closed his eyes again.
"I must be dreaming," he said flatly, but slitted his eyes open to study Naruto's face discretely. The firm warmth beneath his head shifted as Naruto fidgeted - he never was able to sit still for more than fifteen seconds - and rolled his eyes.
"No, really?" he said with exaggerated irony, "You're something like a million miles away from Konoha. You and I might be close to super-human, but neither of us can travel that fast."
Sasuke snorted, content to watch the play of emotions over that expressive face, feeling a sense of belonging that seemed odd, as if he hadn't experienced it for a long time. Something niggled at the edge of his consciousness, but he batted it away, reluctant to leave the sanctuary of this rare dream. Naruto had a strange look in his eyes that Sasuke didn't recognize, a sort of embittered, resigned fondness as he watched Sasuke.
"What?" Sasuke finally asked, giving up the pretense that he wasn't staring at Naruto just as Naruto was him. "Don't tell me that you've missed seeing my handsome face, because I'll have to punch you."
"What, and ruin this idyllic moment? I do have a sense of poetry, Sasuke." Naruto snorted, and then added, almost as an afterthought, besides, I wouldn't say you're really handsome. Good-looking, yes, pretty, maybe, but not really handsome."
He dodged the half-hearted punch Sasuke threw at him then, dumping the Uchiha scion to the ground in an undignified heap and engaging him in an impromptu wrestling match. Halfway through, Naruto gave up on any attempt at seriousness and started laughing, allowing Sasuke to pin him against the ground without any real resistance. Smirking down at his rival, Sasuke opened his mouth to say something suitably insulting when Naruto beat him to the punch.
"So you've killed Itachi. What are you going to do now?"
Sasuke felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach, the smirk sliding from his face as all traces of levity disappeared from Naruto's face, serious blue eyes regarding him intently. He'd forgotten this was a dream, that this Naruto was just a figment of his imagination, some strange embodiment of his subconscious; for one fleeting moment, he'd forgotten that this was simply a brief respite from the constant hell his life had become, that he was as much a prisoner in his own mind as he had ever been in Konoha.
Letting out his breath in a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes, resting his forehead against Naruto's, their breath mingling in the air between.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "I can't come back to Konoha."
Naruto rolled his eyes as if to say 'well, duh'. Sasuke didn't feel the expected pang in his chest at Naruto's apparent acceptance of the fact that he could no longer return to Konoha; again, something itched at the back of his mind, but again, he ignored it.
"Naruto," he said quietly, opening his eyes. Naruto was nothing but an unfocused wash of tan and blue this close, but Sasuke could sense that he wasn't smiling. "Naruto, help me. Set me free."
There was a pause before Naruto sighed. Sasuke was startled when his former rival reached up and flicked him in the forehead.
"Idiot," Naruto chided, but there was something painful in his voice, badly hidden beneath his amusement. "You know I can't do that."
"You're not just a figment of my imagination," Sasuke insisted, knowing this to be true. "I know this - this is you. You're the only one who can help me, Naruto, please - "
He fell silent as Naruto pressed a finger against his lips. There was a sad smile on the other man's face, wistful and regretful all at once.
"No, I can't. Sasuke, you know why."
Sasuke closed his eyes hard, clenching his teeth together as he fought the burning flood of tears that suddenly threatened to overwhelm him as that faint realization that had been pricking at the edge of his consciousness finally made itself known. Naruto could no longer help him; he'd given up on bringing Sasuke back to Konoha, because Naruto was -
His breath hitched in his chest as a gentle hand brushed through his hair, phantom fingers leaving trails of warmth in their wake.
"You're going to have to do this on your own," Naruto said quietly, and pressed his hands to either side of Sasuke's face, forcing the dark-haired man to look at him. "I can't help you anymore, but you can do this. You're the only one left who can fight him, Sasuke. You have to."
Sasuke bent his head and kissed him fervently, wishing that it was more than his own imagination providing the taste of Naruto's lips beneath his, the slide of Naruto's tongue against his own. Breaking apart, he rested his forehead against Naruto's again, and swallowed hard.
"I'll do it," he promised, because he couldn't keep his promise to Naruto when it mattered the most. This was all he could do now. He felt Naruto twine their fingers together.
"Hurry up," Naruto said, smiling, and pushed him away gently, "I'm waiting."
When Sasuke awoke in his own mind for the last time, he could feel Orochimaru's surprise and fear as if it was his own, and braced himself for one last battle.