Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. The song is The Light That Shines Twice As Bright… by Lost Prophets. If you want to read the lyrics they are easily available on Google.
Sakon opened his eyes. Pain. That was all he could feel. Despite that, he separated from his brother – it was harder than normal, he noticed. He was covered in blood – more blood than he'd been when he'd merged with Ukon to rest a bit.
Ukon… His brother was lying on the ground next to hikm. A similar, if not greater amount of blood stained his clothing. His breathing was very faint.
"Hey, Brother," Sakon said, shaking his shoulder. There was no response. "C'mon, merge with me – you'll heal faster." There was no answer. "Brother!" Sakon was desperate. "Come on!" Despite being a hardened shinobi, he cared for his brother a great deal.
His brother's breathing caught slightly. In a panic, Sakon felt for his pulse. It was there, just.
"Brother!" he cried. "Don't leave me – don't you dare leave me!" Gently, he cradled his brother in his arms, noticing how pale he was. Ukon was barely breathing and Sakon pushed his fringe up, resting a hand on his brother's forehead. It was cold and clammy.
Ukon was dying.
In despair, Sakon pushed him up and stood, unsteady on his feet but determined. He was about to start moving when he heard a faint noise.
"Sa… kon…" Ukon rasped.
"Shh! I'm going to find a medic – even if it has to be Kabuto-"
"No…" Ukon said. "There's… there's no… point…" He coughed and blood erupted from his mouth. "I'm… I'm as good as… as… dead…" He coughed up more blood. "Put… me… down…" Sakon obeyed, tears forming in his eyes. Ukon didn't scold him as they fell. Instead, he gripped Sakon's hand tighter than deemed possible for a dying teen to accomplish. Dead man's grip.
"Sa… kon…" he whispered. "Good… good… bye…" He went limp as his eyes widened and glazed over and he took his last breath.
If Sakon closed his eyes, he could pretend that the hand gripping him was still warm, and that Ukon was alive…
"Let go," he said. "Brother – you're holding too tightly." No reaction, of course.
A spot of rain fell, followed by another, and another. Soon, it was pouring down, as though the sky was weeping. Sakon opened his eyes and looked at Ukon. Reaching out with a shaking hand, he closed his brother's wide, glassy eyes. His bloody fingers left trails of blood over the eyelids, adding to the crimson. A stream of the stuff snaked its way towards him, seeping out of the many wounds inflicted by the puppets.
Carefully, he removed dogboy's coat from his brother. It didn't deserve to be worn by his brother's… his brother's… corpse.
"Shh, Sakon," Ukon said as his brother screamed, impaled by numerous kunai. "Merge with me – you'll heal faster. The pain will soon go."
Sakon smiled, then blinked. Tears came to his eyes again as he realised that Ukon wasn't standing in front of him – his body was lying on the ground.
He couldn't live without Ukon. All his life his brother had been there to look after him. Half of his soul had died. Being identical twins meant that neither was complete without the other. Sakon would never again be whole.
The pain – it hurt like nothing before ever had. He couldn't stop it, dull it, block it out. it was impossible.
Briefly, his anger flared, not towards the Sand puppeteer, but towards Ukon.
Ukon had been as much a part of him as his own body, but he'd gone, gone and left Sakon alone in the world. But not before he'd ripped Sakon's soul in two and murdered half of it.
Ukon wouldn't feel like that – he was dead. The dead have no feelings.
Ukon's death made him want to commit suicide.
Oh, how easy it would be to draw a kunai and slit his throat.
How easy it would be to pass away and rejoin his brother in the next life – if one existed.
Ukon wouldn't have these thoughts – he was the strong one. Even if he wasn't – he was the dead one.
Ukon was always the sensible, down-to-earth, pessimistic one, not Sakon. Sakon was the optimistic one permanently on Cloud Nine.
So why was Sakon seriously considering suicide?
Why did he feel that, without Ukon he couldn't cope?
Why was he lost? Why didn't he know what to do? He was so adventurous, yet so certain of what life had in store for him, what his path of life was.
But Ukon's death had changed that. For the first time in his life, Sakon was truly alone. Truly alone, with no life for him.
He just accepted that 'life' no longer held the attraction that it once had, and that 'death' was much more welcoming than it had ever been before.
He saw no point to life, no reason to keep going. His life was in tandem. Nothing was happening – nothing ever would.
The hand that Ukon was still clutching, even in death, had his blood, rapidly drying, trapped under two of his nails – he couldn't remember which fingers had which name. No matter how much he would scrub at it, it would never come off. A scar made from his brother's blood.
Why should he believe those stories of people surviving the death of loved ones when it was obvious they were false? Kabuto had always told the two of them that, no matter what they thought, they could live without each other. He was wrong.
Sakon had absolutely no intention of a life without his other half. When Ukon had died, his death had also been decided. One without the other could not exist – it was impossible.
They could separate, but really they were Siamese twins, everything joined except their heads. Ukon's death was like ripping Sakon in half.
but Ukon wouldn't feel like that – the dead have no feelings. They don't need them.
Sakon looked around for a kunai. He'd used tham all during his fight with dogboy but maybe there was one within reach.
There! He reached out, trying to reach the diamond-shaped knife. It was, he realised, the same one Ukon had tried to kill dogboy with. Now it would have a new victim.
Ukon wouldn't feel like that. Ukon was the impulsive older brother. Ukon would want to kill the puppeteer in revenge, but Sakon liked to take his time and knew that he'd die anyway – of a broken heart.
Sakon held the blade in his free hand and stabbed himself.
STAB! Blood spurted.
STAB! He screamed in pain.
STAB! Birds flew away, startled by the screams.
STAB! All through the forest, his screams echoed.
STAB! The barely alive Jirobo opened his eyes.
STAB! Kidomaru shakily pushed himself into a sitting position.
STAB! Tayuya stood, using a fallen tree to support herself.
STAB! Kimimaro jumped down into the midst of his bone forest.
STAB! The other members of the Sound Ninja Five headed in the direction of the screams.
STAB! They arrived where Sakon knelt by his dead brother.
STAB! Blood continued to spurt, but he was still alive, so…
STAB! Ukon was being covered in his brother's blood.
STAB! "Why is he doing that?" his teammates wondered.
STAB! The kunai fell from his hand as he collapsed onto his side. Turquoise lips smiled as he gripped Ukon's hand back. His eyes widened and glazed over.
The other Sound ninja approached the dead twins. Kidomaru tried to separate their entwined hands but couldn't, so he settled for lying Sakon on his back, next to his brother. Finally, he closed Sakon's staring eyes.
The four ninja made to follow Sasuke, but none of them made it.
Aww… Sad. I love Sakon and Ukon and wish they hadn't died.
Oh well, reviews are very welcome!