[Weirdness aside, Sasuke isn't so far gone in his thoughts — in the stewing, contented warmth of the moment — not to recognize there is nothing normal about the way his friend treats him. He has known this for some time. Faced with Naruto's undying pursuit of him, even at his lowest and darkest, of course he has questioned why. Anyone else would have given him up. Everyone else had given him up as lost. Yet there Naruto continues to remain, stalwart and resilient to the forces of the world against them. Of course he's wondered. Some of those questions were answered through their final battle, through the similarities of their past and the losses they've both endured, through the undeniable connection of their ancestry.
But not all of it.
Naruto cradles him in his lap, nuzzles into his shoulder, speaks to him in that low, scratchy voice promising him a future together — that if he isn't there, "I don't want it." He recalls the vow Naruto had made to follow him into death if it meant they could restart anew. And now, telling him that he deserves to feel good, with the pressure of Naruto's cheek on his shoulder and the ticklish suggestion of hair and breath... It's not normal. Confusion is a wellspring inside of him. It flows, at first a trickle then a fast rush, in time with the pace of his heart. He keeps his head turned away, unwilling to bear that closeness on top of everything else.]
I don't know why you say those things. [Of everyone important in his friend's life, Sasuke surely deserves them the least.] ... It wasn't a future I imagined for myself. Even after I lost to you, I could only see how you wanted to change the world as someone outside of it. I've committed too much wrong.
Don't you see? I can't exist there and ignore everything that has happened to me, everything that I've done. I can't return to the way it was. [The words are slippery off his tongue; the confession seems to ache.] So I don't know what's going to happen now. If we truly are dead, but there's still a way to amend it, I'll do all that is within my power to return you home where you're supposed to be. I care less about myself than that. You're the reason I have any future at all.
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But not all of it.
Naruto cradles him in his lap, nuzzles into his shoulder, speaks to him in that low, scratchy voice promising him a future together — that if he isn't there, "I don't want it." He recalls the vow Naruto had made to follow him into death if it meant they could restart anew. And now, telling him that he deserves to feel good, with the pressure of Naruto's cheek on his shoulder and the ticklish suggestion of hair and breath... It's not normal. Confusion is a wellspring inside of him. It flows, at first a trickle then a fast rush, in time with the pace of his heart. He keeps his head turned away, unwilling to bear that closeness on top of everything else.]
I don't know why you say those things. [Of everyone important in his friend's life, Sasuke surely deserves them the least.] ... It wasn't a future I imagined for myself. Even after I lost to you, I could only see how you wanted to change the world as someone outside of it. I've committed too much wrong.
Don't you see? I can't exist there and ignore everything that has happened to me, everything that I've done. I can't return to the way it was. [The words are slippery off his tongue; the confession seems to ache.] So I don't know what's going to happen now. If we truly are dead, but there's still a way to amend it, I'll do all that is within my power to return you home where you're supposed to be. I care less about myself than that. You're the reason I have any future at all.