Prompt/request:
[Sasuke/Naruto] goes to battle[/something], and he tells [Naruto/Sasuke] he’ll be fine even though he knows it’s not true. [Naruto/Sasuke] worries; his instincts tell him something’s going to go wrong. Implied death in the end.
Okay whoa this was supposed to have a lot more tension and I don’t know what but I just
I’m gonna leave this here because my heart can’t take the feels
—
“You’ll come back, right?”
The words are bold, spoken softly but bold all the same in the silence of their little apartment flat. A single flame burns low in an emptying lantern; its light traces the edges of rough hands smoothing out a shirt, slender fingers sliding a vest over muscled arms and settling it on broad shoulders. They touch, and touch again, and the press of duty stifles their moment but they know – they both know he has lingered too long.
“You’ll come back,” he says again, quieter this time, cutting once more into the dead silence.
“Of course.” Calluses trace the dancing firelight against pale skin, a high cheekbone. “I didn’t spend five years searching for you only to abandon you, Sasuke.”
Sasuke has to force the words through a too-tight throat. “Promise me. Naruto, swear you’ll—”
“I promise. I absolutely promise,” he says, and his conviction is all in his voice and none in his heart but these are the things he has to do, the little white lies – the big white lies he must seal before he goes.
“Don’t be reckless.” Something in Sasuke’s voice hardens, but Naruto knows it’s a defence mechanism, a way for the other to protect himself against the emotions he still rejects, even now, years later. “If you break your promise thanks to some dumb stray kunai, I will never forgive you.”
“I won’t die.” Naruto has to untangle himself from Sasuke’s body, their legs and their arms and their fingers and their hair. “This is the last fight. With this, we win Konoha’s freedom. We win peace. I’ll see you soon, Sasuke.”
But Naruto’s barely taken a step towards the door before Sasuke’s stopping him, grabbing his wrist for dear life.
“Trade with me,” Sasuke pleads. “Defend the city’s walls instead. I don’t care what Tsunade says, you don’t belong on the front lines with Kyuubi—”
“No!”
Sasuke freezes in place – frozen by the heat in Naruto’s voice. Slowly Naruto turns, and the pain in his eyes is so overwhelming that Sasuke immediately goes to him, holds him, clings to him.
“I won’t,” Naruto whispers into Sasuke’s ear. “I won’t trade with you. I won’t trade your life for mine.”
Sasuke’s heart drops.
“Naruto,” he breathes, but Naruto’s already pulling away again, parting from him one last time, and just before the lantern goes out Sasuke catches a glimmer of wetness on Naruto’s cheeks.
“I’ll come back,” Naruto says in the darkness, but he chokes on the words and his voice breaks. “Goodbye, Sasuke.”
He opens the door, steps through, and shuts it.
Sasuke can’t breathe.