A Tearful Goodbye

In the middle of an old battle field the last of the Uchihas made their final stand. Brother against brother. They fought each other with an intensity that no one had ever seen before. It was hard to believe that they were brothers, that they once loved each other.

Now their blades met, sending sparks into the air. The younger of the brothers was ready to die as long as he killed his murderous traitor of a brother. They stared into each others blood red eyes. In the younger brothers eyes, there was hatred burning bright. But in the older brothers eyes there was a sadness to them, and an acceptance of death.

Both of them were covered in blood and fatal injuries but neither would give up. With their last amount of energy they charged. Blade hit blade and finally one blade hit flesh. It sank in deep, yearning for the taste of blood. Itachi fell to the ground and lay motionless. Sasuke removed his blade from Itachi's chest and smirked with satisfaction. He had finally achieved his revenge, his brother was dead.

Sasuke dropped his katana and looked around. It was a bleak place with ruins scattered here and there. Sasuke's vision was starting to blur and he became dizzy. He staggered to one of the ruins and sat against it.

'Its done, I've killed Itachi!' Sasuke thought. It was finally over and he could rest in peace now. 'But, wait!' his fading mind thought. 'What about Konoha? What about all the people that care about me? What about Kakashi-sensei and Naruto and Sakura? What will they do?' he let a tear slid down his face. It had been years since he saw them last and deep down he did miss them. 'I would like to see them one last time' his mind was fading away now. The darkness was taking its hold on him.

In the distance he heard noises. 'Voices maybe' he thought. 'But who would be out here?' his head was spinning now. He felt someone come up to were he was sitting. He looked up to see a familiar, or what used to be a familiar face, he thought. He heard his name and noticed that the person before him was crying.

'Why was he crying? I killed Itachi everything will be ok now.' he thought. "Naruto?" he asked the person standing before him.

"Yes, I'm here. You're going to be ok Sasuke." Naruto said as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke said so quietly that Naruto almost didn't hear the question.

"I'm here looking for you, teme." Naruto said as more tears rolled down his face. He kneeled down beside Sasuke and put his arms around him.

"I'm glad you came but how did you find me?" Sasuke asked as he leaned his head against Naruto's chest.

It was luck that they happened to come across this battle field really. Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, and Sakura were coming back from a mission and heard fighting. They decided to check it out. About half way there the noises just stopped so they split up to try and find the source. Naruto saw a body laying on the ground and a katana beside it. He looked at the body and recognized it as Itachi's. He then looked around for Sasuke, who he knew must have done this. He saw a body sitting against one of the ruins and ran to it. He saw Sasuke covered in blood.

"Don't worry about that right now all that matters is that I'm here now." Naruto says to Sasuke. Sasuke, content with this answer, starts to close his eyes. "Hey you have to keep you're eyes open, ok? You need to stay awake!"

"I just want to rest for a little bit. I'm so tired." Sasuke says. His minds no longer working properly and he starts to drift off. He feels like there is something he still has to do but cant quite remember what it is. "Tell Sakura I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt her. Please watch out for her, I don't think I'll be able to protect her, or anyone else I care about, anymore. And Naruto I'm sorry I tried to kill you. You are my best friend and a brother to me."

Naruto is crying uncontrollably now. He's scared because Sasuke has accepted the fact that he is dying. If he didn't he wouldn't be saying these things.

Naruto forced a smile. "Don't talk like that, you're going to get through this. Just wait till Sakura gets here and she can heal you. You'll be fine. Believe it!" he says meekly.

"I think I'm to far gone to be healed. My injuries are to severe for even Sakura, the best medic nin in Konoha, to heal me… where are Sakura and Kakashi-sensei at anyway?" Sasuke tries to look around but can barely move his body anymore.

"They should be here soon, I promise." Naruto says desperately. 'Where are they? They need to get here soon. I cant, I WONT loose Sasuke!'

"Don't give up on your dream of becoming hokage, I bet you'll be great, dobe." Sasuke said as a bit of blood came from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were slowly beginning to close on their own. He saw memories flash before his eyes. He saw the night of the Uchiha massacre, he saw the day he was put into team 7, their first mission, the first time he used sharingon, when he faced Orochimaru in the forest of death, the night he left Konoha, when he faced Naruto in the Valley of the End, and much more memories both good and bad.

Naruto saw Sasuke's eyes start to close and couldn't stop from crying harder. Deep down he knew that Sasuke was to badly injured and had lost to much blood to possibly survive. He was going to loose Sasuke again but this time there was no going after him. There was no chance of bringing him back.

Naruto looked desperately for help and saw Kakashi-sensei and Sakura running toward him. For a second there was a little bit of hope in his heart but he started to feel Sasuke's heartbeat slow down. His breathing slowly stopped and his eyes closed for good.

Sasuke heard noises again. Sobs and cries. He heard his name shouted to the sky. But none of it mattered anymore. He was at peace. He didn't have to worry about anything anymore. He had gotten his revenge, he got to say goodbye to his best friend. He no longer felt the pain of his injures or his fear of dying. For once in his life he was perfectly happy and ready to let everything go.

___________

They held his memorial a few days later and he was buried with the other ninjas of the Konoha village that had died in battle. The first few months there was always people at his grave but after a while those people moved on and Sasuke became a legend, the last of the great Uchiha clan.

One thing never changed though. Three people would come to see him everyday, sometimes together in a group and sometimes separate, but they came to talk to his stone everyday. Things would never go back to normal for these three, for they had been the only family Sasuke had had.

They loved him with all there hearts and never really got over his death. They lived their lives and fulfilled their dreams but never forgot about him. They could never forget about the one who made such a difference in their lives.