So I'm going to attempt getting back into my writing, and I've decided to use the method of word prompts to help myself do that. Over the next while I'll try to upload more short one shots inspired by different words and small sayings I've had chosen for me at random. All of these small writings will be Naruto pieces, and will focus on NaruSasu - my OTP. They will not all be connected or part of the same universe though; each story will be individual and stand alone, unless I decide to continue one. So here is the first. Please be nice.

Next Life

The ground beneath him was cold and hard, rain battering down onto his body from the angry thunder clouds above. Sasuke flinched as a particularly large drop splattered directly into one of his eyes. Not that it mattered - his vision was already so blurry he could hardly see.

There were people bustling around him like crazy, he could just make out the wet thatch of Naruto's blonde hair, and a faint green glow lower down which he knew to be emanating from Sakura, but her hands were just out of his line of sight.

They were both talking. No...it was more like shouting, screaming even. Sasuke coughed, tasting the horrible, metallic flavour of his own blood mixing with rising bile in he back of his throat. He knew he was dying. He could feel his very life energy draining out of him, as blood poured from the horrific wound in his chest and pooled around him.

The enemy's attack had come seemingly out of nowhere, catching the Uchiha off guard before he could pull up a sufficient block or counter. The chakra had been raw and uncontrolled, a clear indication that its user had yet to fully master the technique. A final act of desperation. But it had been that lack on control which had made it so deadly, the energy surging without shape and ripping through flesh like some wild animal.

Sasuke didn't know where the enemy was now - he wondered if Naruto had perhaps killed him. There was blood splashed on the blonde's face that couldn't have belonged to him, and Naruto wasn't known to turn his back on an enemy and let his guard down like he was now. Unless the threat had been eliminated.

Sasuke's thoughts were cut short as a lungful of blood erupted from his mouth, rolling down his face in disgusting thick globs. He couldn't hold on anymore. Just trying to breathe was excruciating, Sakura's healing chakra not making any noticeable differences that he could feel.

"Hey-hey-hey! Don't you dare give up now!" He could hear Naruto screaming at him, and Sasuke was half tempted to tell the idiot to shut up and let him sleep. Why was he always so loud?

It was both annoying and a comfort to know that Naruto's voice would be the last one Sasuke would ever hear. His heart beat was slowing. He could feel himself slipping away. Letting go would be so easy. Sasuke couldn't think of a more perfect way to go - him slowly sinking into oblivion with the one person he loved right at his side to see him off.

Maybe he was being selfish, thinking that way, but there was no point in dwelling on it now. It was already too late. Even Sakura's abilities couldn't save him now from this much internal trauma.

"Open your eyes Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, staying true to his nature and not giving up. "Don't you dare die like this. That's not what we agreed on!"

Dimly, the fallen Uchiha felt warmed drops of water hitting his face, but it was almost impossible to tell with all the rain falling. Was Naruto crying? He really needed to stop that. Crying didn't solve anything. It certainly wouldn't solve this.

"Dobe..." He whispered, his voice almost completely gone and reduced to a tiny sound that his constricting throat threatened to cut off. "Let... Let me go..."

His words must have been heard, because less than a second later Sasuke felt warm, firm hands clamping on either side of his head, surprising him just enough for his eyes to crack open.

Naruto was leaning over him, his own blue orbs red rimmed, bloodshot and overflowing with tears. Sasuke wished he had the energy to reach up and kiss each heartbreaking drop away, but the truth was he couldn't even feel his body anymore. His senses were dulling, internal organs shutting down as they finally gave up the fight. He could do nothing, but lie there in the mud and die.

"I'll never let you go," Naruto was telling him, willing Sasuke to both hear and believe his words as he shook him a fraction, earning a mouthful from Sakura who was still trying to repair the damage.

"There's no way in hell I'm letting you go. We had a deal, remember?! You promised me you wouldn't die before I did. That we would die together. Well I'm not ready to die yet, so that means you aren't either. Live Sasuke! Keep fighting. Don't make me-"

The blonde's voice cracked then, his emotions getting the better of him as he felt his love's warmth fading from his skin beneath his palms. "Don't make me follow you," he whispered brokenly, leaning down further until their headbands chinked together. "Please, don't go. B-because if you do...I will follow you. Out of this life and into the next. I promised you I would, and I will."

Sasuke suddenly felt pain registering again, only this time it was a completely different kind. Not the physical, but an emotional. His already dying heart was breaking with Naruto's words, and yet he could offer him no words of comfort. He couldn't make him promise not to do something so reckless and stupid.

He wanted to live. So badly. But what was the point in wishing for the impossible? His body was cold and unresponsive. He'd lost too much blood. Not even he, the great Sasuke Uchiha, could come back from something like this.

In the end all he could do was smile, a single tear rolling down from one of his eyes, and pray that Naruto understood him.

'Live on. Live on for me... Remember me.'

He welcomed the darkness as it swallowed him, wrapping itself around his body in a comforting embrace. Naruto was still screaming at him, but the words no longer made any sense to Sasuke, and quickly faded away to nothing. He was beyond pain or conscious thought, his spirit leaving his tired and broken body to traverse a winding new road that would take him out of the physical world and on to a place many had gone before him.

This journey would be smooth, with only one direction. There was no chance of him losing his way again. He would finally walk in the light and escape the shadows forever. He would finally be free. He would be safe. And once he reached his destination, he would turn to stare back down that path and wait. Wait for his love to join him, when he was ready. For Naruto, Sasuke would wait all eternity.

A presence suddenly appeared to his right, catching the newly dead Uchiha's attention, and he turned in the warm, empty expanse to confront it. His eyes widened in shock and mouth dropped open at the sight of the ethereal form before him. That familiar gentle smile. Those loving eyes. That slightly amused expression on his face.

Itachi Uchiha stood in front of him in all his glory, wearing the same Uchiha brandished clothes Sasuke always remembered him to have, before he'd adorned the Akatsuki red clouded cloak. His hair was tied the way it had always been, his headband keeping his bangs neatly in place. But the metal plate was unmarked, the Konoha leaf symbol showing proud and true.

The sudden urge to run to his brother was overpowering. To know that he was finally within reach brought Sasuke to tears, and in a few quick steps he was there. Throwing his arms round Itachi's shoulders, Sasuke clung to the older man with a vice grip, pressing his face hard into his shoulder.

"I've missed you," he murmured. "So much Itachi. You have no idea how hard it's been. I've been so lonely without you."

A soft chuckle escaping his brother's lips, Itachi returned Sasuke's embrace for a moment before lightly pushing him back by the shoulders.

"Why are you here Sasuke?" He asked, his voice smooth and gentle as ever. "It's too early for you."

Sasuke frowned - surely his brother understood the reason for his arrival, sudden as it may have been. "I... I died," he answered, the words coming out more difficult than he had expected. "I died while I was out on a mission."

Itachi frowned, gripping his little brother by the shoulders. "Did you want to?"

Sasuke looked away, learning that it was still possible to feel guilt and pain, even in this existence. "Not really," he admitted, his eyes saddening. "I was finally getting myself together. I was finally starting to live again... I had a future."

Itachi smiled, seeing through his brother with no trouble at all. "With Naruto?" He asked, a knowing look on his face. Sasuke could only nod weakly.

Sighing quietly, Itachi released his hold on Sasuke, and after a moment's consideration raised his hand and tapped his brother on the forehead. Sasuke blinked at the light blow, looking back to stare at him as Itachi's hand pulled away.

"Sorry Sasuke," his brother smiled. "But this isn't it. Not yet."

And with that Sasuke felt the sudden sensation of falling, his brother and the warmth around him rushing away from him as the cold darkness returned with a vengeance. He toppled through the abyss, no idea of which way was up, as his brother's echoing words faded out to be replaced by more, mixed up and garbled to his ears.

A desperate rush of air filled his lungs, bringing with it the sensations of pain, cold and dampness. He felt his body lurch, unknown hands grabbing at him as he convulsed. It was like a foreign substance was invading his body, and it was overwhelming.

The darkness strengthened, until it once again blocked everything out.

"Hey... Can you hear me?"

That voice disturbed him as it floated into his ears, and Sasuke's brow creased into a light frown as he tried to identify it. It was warm and gentle, much like whatever it was he was now lying upon and wrapped up in. He could feel heat of what he guessed was the sun shining down on the bare skin of his arms, and his first thought was that he was lying on a cloud. Only a cloud could be this comfortable.

"Sasuke?" The voice called again, a light, almost sing-song tone to it. "Are you awake?"

No, he wasn't awake. He was trying to sleep, dammit. Everything felt heavy and sluggish, like he was weighed down and boneless. Comfortable as his resting surface may have been, it did little to ease the terrible fatigue clinging to his body.

There was a light chuckle, which he could now identify as coming from his right, and what felt like a hand ran gently over his arm. "Okay, now I know you're awake. You don't frown like that in your sleep." The hand gripped his own encouragingly. "Can you open your eyes for me?"

A hoarse groan worked its way up Sasuke's throat, and he opened his eyes just a crack to glare sleepily at whoever dared disturb him. But when his misty grey orbs landed on the tanned skin, blonde hair and ocean blue eyes of his love, and irritation he'd had fell away.

"Naru..." He whispered, his voice gone and throat dry from lack of use. Instantly a small cup of water was held up to him, and Naruto's other hand slid beneath Sasuke's heavy head to lift it just enough for him to sip at the water.

He drank greedily, like a baby that hadn't been fed, and the cup was empty much sooner than he would have liked. He tried to ask for more as it was pulled away, only to feel his eyes drooping in desperate need for sleep.

"Easy, just relax," Naruto soothed, laying his head back down carefully upon the pillows. "You've been through a lot, and you need to rest. I'll still be here, so we he can talk later."

Fighting against the grogginess, Sasuke shook his head, wanting to understand now. Hadn't he died? Just what was going on? "How...?" He whispered. "I'm dead... Aren't I?"

Naruto's eyes were swimming with a mixture of emotions, but Sasuke couldn't read them as his love moved closer and kissed him gently on the forehead, where he could almost still feel his brother's fingers.

"I brought you back," Naruto whispered against the pale skin. "Kurama. He gave me his chakra. Just enough for Sakura to control and heal you with... You didn't want me to follow you into the next life, so I brought you back to this one."

The pain medication he was on messed with his head, and Sasuke could only grumble as his eyes fell shut again. "That's not it... My brother. He didn't want me yet... He..." His voice trailed off as his exhaustion took hold.

Brushing back his raven's locks as he watched him slip back into calm sleep, Naruto smiled and relaxed for the first time in over two weeks. "That's because I wanted you more, you idiot," he whispered, leaving Sasuke's hair to retake his hand and cradle it in his own.

Kissing his scabbed knuckles, Naruto closed his eyes and silently thanked Itachi, or whatever high power was responsible for returning his Sasuke to him.

"I promise, the next time you two brothers meet, I'll be right there with you."

END

So I hope people enjoyed this. I usually write much longer stories, so I'm a bit out of practice writing small pieces like this. If you liked this please let me know what you think. I'm a bit insecure about my writing, so a few comments would be much appreciated.