Title: Bitter Nostalgia
Rated: PG
Pairing: NaruSasu
Comments: For the candy challenge at sasunaru100…something angsty and short to satiate my inner emo. Haha. Also, I have completely disregarded the fact that there is no such thing as Halloween in Konoha. XD

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Naruto watched the children in the street below, his fond smile hidden in the dark shade of his balcony. He folded his hands carefully over the railing and rested his chin in the palm of his hand, taking a deep breath and catching the faint scent of chocolate and sugar that tinged the night air. He was too old to run about in fanciful costumes and beg for candy anymore, but that didn’t keep him from reminiscing on one of Konoha’s last traditions that allowed the children to be merely children for one night… and had allowed one child in particular to hide behind a literal mask and be treated with as much indulgence and affection as the others.

He tapped his fingers against the old metal rail and closed his eyes, listening to the chatter of the children below. There was a brief moment of stillness.

Naruto’s eyes opened and he quickly turned, knowing immediately that he was no longer alone. He reached into his weapons holster and removed a kunai before stepping cautiously into his darkened apartment. He crouched low, chakra building in his feet just as a figure detached itself from the shadows.

Laughter drifted up from the street.

“Stupid holiday, in my opinion,” the figure said.

Naruto’s kunai fell from his limp fingers, hitting the carpet with a thud. “Sa…”

Sasuke moved forward, footsteps silent. Naruto swallowed and knew an instant before it happened that he wouldn’t be fast enough to dodge.

Sasuke slammed into his chest, driving him backward and out again until his back slammed into the metal railing of his balcony, the rusty hinges screeching shrilly and threatening to snap. He bit his lip to keep from crying out as pain shot up his spine, Sasuke’s body still pressing him back, the metal biting into his skin through his thin shirt.

“Sas-”

“Trick or treat, Naruto,” Sasuke said, voice low.

Naruto drew back his arm and aimed a punch that was easily caught. “You tell me, bastard.”

He released a frustrated breath. He assumed Sasuke’s attack was his twisted way of saying hello. He peered at Sasuke, not wanting to chance closing his eyes. The angles of Sasuke’s face seemed oddly softer in the moonlight, different from when Naruto had been looking up at him from the remains of what had been Sasuke’s room in Orochimaru’s hide out.

“Nostalgia is a dangerous thing. Don’t you think so?” Sasuke asked softly, eyes skimming over Naruto’s face and briefly looking beyond him to the children below.

Naruto supposed Sasuke had wanted to sound menacing-or at the very least, indifferent. Instead, the gentle delivery of his words had held the weight of something Naruto thought might be longing.

“What are you doing here?” Naruto asked and held his breath, not daring to let himself hope that maybe…

Sasuke’s breath was warm against his cheek, carrying with it the hint of something sweet. It made him think of candy coated smiles-saccharine, brittle, deceptive. Sasuke grunted softly-the meaning behind that sound lost to Naruto-and stepped back, breaking contact.

Naruto watched him retreat, watched the gap between them swell and splinter. Neither spoke for fear of validating the moment-a moment in which, for once, Naruto saw what was hidden beneath, saw the wistfulness in Sasuke’s reserved gaze and knew that a single word might sever the fragile thread that had lead Sasuke back to Konoha.

So he stood beside the man he still considered his best friend and they watched the children pass below, a tenuous but mutually agreeable silence settling between them.

Five minutes or an hour passed and the street below was silent. Naruto glanced back into his apartment. The darkness within seemed oppressive. Sasuke lifted a hand to trail blunt nails over the rusty metal, the thin sound raising goose bumps on Naruto’s arm.

Naruto turned and suddenly Sasuke was in his face, breath sweet against his mouth, fingers curling into the curve of neck beneath his jaw. Naruto held his breath but Sasuke didn’t move further, his dark gaze simply taking in the way the shadows fell across Naruto’s face.

“Nostalgia is a dangerous thing,” he repeated softly.

Naruto swallowed before opening his mouth to speak, but Sasuke stepped back and, a moment later, was gone, leaving nothing but the bitter taint of sugar in the air.

The end.